Utilizing OM Plus , to provide print failover can take many forms. OM Plus can be used to provide failover to an alternate printer if the primary device fails, it can be used to manage failover between application servers to ensure print is not lost after the failover, it can even be used to assist your organization in replacing their large, centralized data center printers with a group of network attached printers.
Customers ask us all the time if our software fixes a big flaw that Windows servers have when it comes to managing enterprise printing. Basically, the issue with the Windows Server print spooler is that when you print a job and the queue gets stuck for x,y,z reasons (printer is turned off, the file didn’t get spooled all the way through....), you can not delete the faulty job to let the other jobs in the queue print. The problem is that sometimes, the job cannot be deleted at all and the only way to "purge" the queue is to stop and start the spooler service on the server, interrupting all the jobs managed by that server, enterprise wide!
Utilizing OM Plus is the solution to this problem. Once the job is received by OM Plus, a failover script can be used that will send notification of the problem by e-mail or windows messenger and then re-enable the queue so the next job goes. There is no interruption to other enterprise printing because the spooler is not hung up like it is with the Windows spooler.
OM Plus capabilities can than be used to diagnose the specific problem that caused the job to hang up in the spooler. OM Plus also permits the administrator to easily re-submit the job for printing when the problem has been resolved.
Another failover scenario is where an organization prints large quantities of documents (invoices, credit memos, etc.) every night on a large, centralized printer from companies like Xerox, IBM, OCE, etc. The process they follow calls for them to run documents such as invoices, credit memos etc. during the business day and hold them for batch printing at night. At the end of the business day, a nighttime operator accesses their ERP system and releases a range of documents (i.e. invoices for example) to be released to their large central printer(s). This process is then repeated throughout the night for each different type of document that had been created during the day. The business problem that organizations face is fairly simple. The large central printer is expensive to run due to the cost of the maintenance contract, supplies and the people required to run it.
Utilizing OM Plus is the solution to the need to reduce the cost associated with printing these types of transactional documents with a lower cost solution that includes less expensive network laser printers and fewer staff.
Learn more about our Print Fail Over Solution
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