Print management expert ThinPrint and IGEL, the provider of the next-gen edge OS for cloud workspaces, have extended their partnership to enable remote workplace productivity and security via Windows Virtual Desktop, while addressing the need for easy-to-use and secure printing. Through ThinPrint’s participation in the IGEL Ready partner program, ThinPrint’s ezeep Blue cloud print solutions will be integrated with IGEL OS for example via the paperclip-sized IGEL UD Pocket, a USB-powered “key” that turns any computer into a managed, secure home office endpoint.
The need for productive and secure remote working solutions has been a growing topic for many years. However, with the COVID-19 global pandemic, effective home office solutions have shifted from being a perk to a workplace necessity, leaving many organizations struggling to keep up.
IT teams are turning to the IGEL UD Pocket or the new UD Pocket2, a fast, simple and secure solution for setting up a home office. This micro-USB stick is pre-loaded with IGEL’s edge operating system – IGEL OS – and turns any x86-64 computer into a fully managed and secure thin client. Once booted up, employees can access cloud-based apps and services via Windows Virtual Desktop as if they were experiencing their familiar Windows desktop at work. No work-related data whatsoever ends up on the private computers.
However, there was one thing that was missing until now: print support. To fill the printing gap, IGEL and ThinPrint are integrating the cloud printing solution ezeep Blue into IGEL OS 11.05. As a result, all users of the IGEL UD Pocket and any other device that can run IGEL OS can not only work remotely, but can also print easily. ezeep Blue moves the entire printing process to the cloud and requires no local resources whatsoever. Only the hardware interfaces are used to communicate with the printer. As part of the solution, printer drivers and a printing system are not required on the endpoint device. This also prevents sensitive data from remaining in a local print queue where it is unencrypted and vulnerable to attacks while it is waiting to be sent to the printer.
If printing is required in branch offices, an IGEL OS-powered endpoint with integrated ezeep Blue Edge Printing in combination with the print appliance ezeep Hub can take over the role of the local print server.
“As the industry’s only true cloud print provider, ezeep Blue continues to leverage its unique technology and approach to help companies streamline their workplace environments,” says Christoph Hammer, Senior Vice President Cloud Services at ThinPrint. “Our latest integration with IGEL makes it clear that there is no easier way to set up fully functional and secure home offices. IGEL OS and ezeep Blue complement each other perfectly, being both extremely easy to use while offering the highest level of security.”
“The future of end user computing is in the cloud. And as today’s digital workforce shifts to a remote-first strategy, IGEL OS and the UD Pocket have become go-to technologies for organizations that want to quickly empower their remote users with a secure, managed workspace,” said Simon Clephan, Vice President Business Development and Strategic Alliances, IGEL. “By combining IGEL OS with ThinPrint ezeep Blue, we are further enabling user productivity with an advanced cloud-powered printing solution. It’s one more way the IGEL Ready program is making it easy for customers to support their users, no matter where they are located, with virtual desktop and cloud workspace technology.”
Now more than ever, providing customers and their employees with reliable, frictionless access to tools, applications, and services is critical for business continuity and growth. The IGEL Ready program ensures that partner applications are validated and shared, and that their customers have access to updated and secure software. This new ecosystem enables customers to consider proven, compatible devices and partner applications across a range of categories in the customer-facing IGEL Ready Showcase.
More information about the joint solution from IGEL and ezeep Blue can be found at: www.igel.com/ready.
More information can also be found in a recorded on-demand web session, “How to plan for printing in IGEL projects,” given by ThinPrint Inc’s CEO Henning Volkmer at IGEL Disrupt.
About ezeep:
The future of printing is ezeep. With ezeep, printing is dramatically simplified, enabling any device to print to any printer – whether with the ezeep printer driver from PC or Mac, via app for smartphones and tablets or even by web-based drag & drop for the occasional user.
Consumers print unlimited and – naturally – free-of-charge to their own printers and, depending on the provider, free or at a cost to external printers. This makes printing as easy as making a phone call, eliminating the need for any user support. Companies can lower the infrastructure demands on their printer setups in branch offices worldwide, thanks to ezeep, drastically simplifying their administration. With this, the total costs for deploying printers is significantly reduced.
Coworking spaces, universities, exhibition grounds, train stations, airports and kiosks can not only make their printers publicly available with just a single click, but also charge for printing with ease. The same applies to private users or cafés which want to share their printers with others. Printers are thereby transformed into sources of income, not costs. Open interfaces enable integrations with existing solutions, such as for user and resource management, cost control or compliance monitoring for maximum cost savings via automation. A constantly growing ecosystem of standard integrations by development partners makes these benefits also available to non-technical users.
By reducing costs and removing all technical requirements, whilst providing the ability to use third-party printers at any time, ezeep ensures that in the future people will be able to print from almost every location quickly and easily, for whatever reason they might have. ezeep is committed to minimizing the CO2 footprint of printing and ensuring that printed paper can be a meaningful, productive and responsible alternative to screen-based information consumption. For more information, please visit: www.ezeep.com.
