Sharp OSA v4.0 Embedded Follow Print Released!
As lead developer of Cirrato's embedded technologies, I am happy to announce our latest embedded follow print implementation, this time for Sharp OSA v4.0 devices. This follows my previous release a couple of months ago, when I announced Embedded Follow Print for HP.
Cirrato Embedded Follow Print for Sharp MFDs
The Sharp application is a part of the Cirrato 2011 R2 release (which will be described in another blog post soon) and is mostly implemented in JavaScript. This makes it fast and responsive and removes unnecessary server communication. The user experience is second to none.
Authentication at the MFD
The application supports the usual ways of authenticating a user:
- Username/password/domain
- Short ID
- USB card readers
Functionalities
With the application, you can print to a generic queue and pick up or manage your print job on the touch screen of any enabled Sharp MFD. You can for example list the jobs currently in your queue, delete the ones you don't need, and print a proof-read copy of a job before printing out all the copies.
Users find this convenient since they can just "print and forget" until they need to pick up a job, it increases security by eliminating the risk of documents falling into wrong hands, and companies reduce paper waste because print jobs are no longer forgotten at the printer.
Additionally, you can configure the application to lock down the MFD until a user authenticates. This makes it possible to control who is copying and scanning as well as printing.
If you want to charge users for printing (good in for example universities), the application supports can charge the user's bank account directly when he/she prints.
I hope that many of our partners and future customers will find this useful, and I am welcoming any feedback that they may have!
