Net Printing Makes Progress (09/29/98 9:08 a.m. ET) By Chuck Moozakis, InternetWeek Support for a wide variety of printing functions across the Internet will take a step forward next week with Hewlett-Packard's release of the industry's first print server to be compatible with the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP). HP's three-port JetDirect 500X print server is designed for IT managers who are laying the groundwork for "distribute-and-print" architectures, as opposed to the current method of printing documents locally and then distributing them. "There is some significant growth potential that will be fueled by Internet printing," said Lou Slawetsky, president of market-watcher Industry Analysts. "Right now, we are seeing documents produced from within a WAN. More significant will be the day when you can push data around the Internet and print anywhere." The IPP is the umbrella under which Internet printing will be realized. Version 1.0, which was co-developed by HP (company profile) and Microsoft, is now under review by the Internet Engineering Task Force. Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft has said it will include native IPP support in Windows NT Workstation and NT Server 5.0. Novell, whose Distributed Print Services product served as a model for IPP, has also pledged support. Hotel business centers and quick-print shops such as Kinko's and Sir Speedy's will likely be the first customers for IPP-enabled printers, said Kirk Porritt, HP's future product manager. "With an Internet printer, they would avoid the quality loss of having something sent via fax," he said. "Instead of users having to bring files down to get printed, [copy shops] need only set up an Internet printer and customers would be able to print to that device." Analyst Slawetsky said he predicted it will be another year before full Internet printing is realized. But, he added, "When this happens, it will be as significant to printing as protocol standardization was for the fax market. It will result in true online distribution of printed information." The HP JetDirect 500X server is priced at $319 to $619, depending upon whether it's connected to an Ethernet or token ring network. The 500X comes with HP Web JetAdmin 5.0, which will let IT managers oversee local and remote printers via a Web-based browser.

very cool! i see some major uses for this technology in the knowledge management/workflow area: getting documents where they need to go.

Yeah, it's very cool. Tivoli has an enterprise printing solution called Destiny, but it's expensive and difficult to deploy for a small organization. This makes remote network printing a reality without major expense.