This post was published in our Document Systems, Sharp Electronics UK category.
Making life easier for network administrators: new features offer remote operation, grouping and central management of printers and MFPs
London, 10 September 2009 – Sharp Electronics has announced the 5th version of its popular Printer Administration Utility (PAU), with several new features designed to give network administrators easier control of their printers and MFPs. Key innovations in PAU 5 include remote viewing and control of the device front panel, cloning settings across multiple devices and automated service reports.
Remote front panel for easier support
The new remote front panel feature solves the problem of support staff having to make a trip to the printer or MFP every time a user reports a fault or phones for instructions on how to use an unfamiliar feature. Instead, the support technician can simply open the tool to view and control every function on the front panel display, gaining the ability to either fix the problem directly or give step-by-step guidance to the user to achieve the same result.
Device cloning for rapid deployment
IT administrators are all
too familiar with the time and effort it takes to install and configure multiple
printers. The latest version of Sharp’s PAU helps to streamline the
process by allowing the administrator or support technicians to simply copy the
system and web settings of the first machine and then transfer it to each
additional machine that’s being deployed. For extra convenience, the settings
can be edited before transfer.
Service reports for optimum efficiency
PAU also helps to
maximise uptime and keep the fleet at optimum efficiency by letting support
staff track and monitor the operational status of every MFP on the network. It
automatically captures and reports a wide range of useful information about each
machine, including the model, serial number, location and the number of pages it
has produced, as well as its operating status, IP address, name, description,
and MAC address. The data can be exported to a CSV file format for easy
reporting and analysis.
Complete,
real-time centralised control
PAU meets the requirements of busy support
personnel by making the configuration, management and support of printers and
MFPs quicker and easier. It enables complete, real-time control of the entire
printer and MFP fleet through any standard web browser and allows the monitoring
of all SNMP-compliant printers, regardless of their make or model.
PAU 5 also lets administrators view configuration settings, operational status and toner and paper levels, remotely upgrade the firmware of supported MFPs and distribute printer drivers over the network for one-click automatic installation. For extra convenience, printers can be managed by grouping them by shared characteristics such as location, model name, IP address and status.
“Our Printer Administration Utility has always been a key competitive differentiator and version 5 continues that tradition,” said Chris Hale, product marketing manager for Solutions, Sharp UK. “We recognise that administrators with several printers and MFPs to support want to be able to fulfil demands for high availability and maximum efficiency, but don’t want to use disproportionate effort and resources to accomplish that. PAU provides powerful features that simplify every aspect of the installation, configuration and management of these devices.”
ENDS
For further
information please contact:
Suzanna Rees MCIPR
PR & Communications
Manager
Sharp Electronics (UK) Ltd
Tel. 020 8734 2134
Mob. 07808 479
131
E-mail: Suzanna.rees@sharp-uk.co.uk
Web site: www.sharpnews.co.uk (includes
RSS news feed)