Home uudised KONICA MINOLTA TAKES CLOUD PRINTING TO A NEW LEVEL WITH EVERYONEPRINT HYBRID CLOUD PLATFORM (HCP)

KONICA MINOLTA TAKES CLOUD PRINTING TO A NEW LEVEL WITH EVERYONEPRINT HYBRID CLOUD PLATFORM (HCP)

| 2 juuni 2021

Konica Minolta is pleased to announce the launch of its cloud-based, multi-tenant software-as-a-service printing solution EveryonePrint Hybrid Cloud Platform (HCP). The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has acted as a catalyst for hybrid work environments. In its "IDC FutureScape: Worldwide IT Industry 2021 Predictions", IDC predicts that "by the end of 2021, [...] 80% of enterprises will put a mechanism in place to shift to cloud-centric infrastructure and applications twice as fast as before the pandemic". [1] But one topic that is still often neglected when it comes to cloud is print services, which often fall outside a company's cloud-first strategy. Yet companies also benefit from all the advantages that the cloud offers, such as low administration costs, low investment costs, high flexibility and scalability, high security and workload relief for IT staff.


EveryonePrint HCP gives companies a choice: If they opt for the public cloud, Konica Minolta takes over hosting the print environment at Konica Minolta's data centre. If they opt for the private cloud, the customer manages the print environment in their own data centre, but still benefits from a number of advantages.
 
IT staff no longer have to manage the IT printing infrastructure
Thanks to EveryonePrint HCP, companies are freed from the tedious burden of managing their IT printing infrastructure themselves. Konica Minolta hosts, manages and supports the print servers, printer drivers and licenses, including setting up new printers and the print queues for each site. Konica Minolta IWS technology means there is no need for local infrastructure at the customer's premises. Customers only need Internet access — a VPN is not required.
 
If customers choose to manage the print environment using their private cloud, this also requires minimal effort. It takes less than ten minutes to create a customer-specific print environment on the EveryonePrint HCP multi-tenant platform and replace existing Windows- and Mac-based print infrastructure. Only one web administration interface and one printer driver are required. This allows customers to conveniently and easily configure and manage all printers, locations, user credentials, access control, usage consumption, reports and much more.
 
Increased cost efficiency
Customers who opt to use the public cloud and hosting by Konica Minolta no longer need their own print servers, eliminating the associated acquisition and maintenance costs.
 
For all customers using public or private cloud services, the costs for acquisition, administration, service, maintenance and support for the EveryonePrint HCP application itself are also eliminated due to the subscription-based, monthly pay-per-use model. Customers only pay for the licences they need. If the company's requirements increase or decrease, the solution can be easily scaled up or down. The monthly billing model also guarantees a better overview and predictability for printing costs.
 
Improved mobility and convenience for end users
End users can access printing services from any device without having to install devices or drivers. Jobs are sent to a single global print queue, allowing the user to print their documents immediately, wherever they are. Users can authenticate themselves at the device via an iOS or Android application, IP card reader, QR code or guest print. This means printouts are not left in printer trays and are protected from unauthorised access.
 
The best security standards for customer data
Customers who opt for the public cloud can rest assured that their data is handled in line with the highest possible security standards. The data is sent to Konica Minolta's data centre in Germany, which is certified to both ISO 27001 and DIN EN 50600 and ensures compliance with GDPR. The data centre is equipped with its own firewall to prevent, detect and remove malware. Furthermore, it has a load balancer to increase the availability and performance of the web server. All customer data is also reliably protected with continuous back-ups.
 
EveryonePrint HCP is suitable for a wide range of network infrastructures, including Web only/Zero Trust environments based on a stringent identity verification process. This ensures that only authenticated and authorised users and devices have access to applications and data. The solution offers full end-to-end encryption thanks to support for SSL/TLS and a built-in auditing function, ensuring GDPR compliance. As print jobs are encrypted and stored on the local workstation and never leave the company network, only metadata and authentication data are transmitted over the public network. All the required certificates are maintained within the application and customers have the option to either use the built-in certificates in EveryonePrint HCP or import their own certificates.

You can find more about EveryonePrint Hybrid Cloud Platform on our website here.

[1] IDC FutureScape: 'Worldwide IT Industry 2021 Predictions', (doc # US46942020, October 2020), IDC, https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US46942020