News
Issue #2002 - 41 (October 2002)
(Updated Oct. 29, 2002)

DEVICES 

HP Drives Growing Market for Mobile Printing with New Solutions, Technology Relationships

Las Vegas, 16-Oct-2002 - HP today announced new mobile print offerings and relationships with Adobe, Cisco Systems, Inc., Guest-Tek, PalmSource, Inc., Research In Motion (RIM) and Sony Ericsson that help customers print from any mobile device. In support of its four-year investment in mobile printing, HP has expanded its portfolio of mobile wireless print solutions to include:

• The HP Mobile Enterprise Printing Solution, developed with Adobe and RIM's Blackberry™ technology to enable mobile wireless printing to any networked printer within an enterprise;
• HP Mobile Printing for Pocket PC, enabling users of HP iPAQ and other Pocket PC 2002 devices to print to wireless and networked printers; 
• The HP Mobile Public Printing Solution, integrating Cisco and Guest-Tek technology to enable notebook PC printing within public venues with high-speed Internet access;
• New HP Jetdirect print server security features, including Cisco's 802.11 LEAP authentication technology, ensuring secure access to wireless-enabled printers;
• New HP Developers Program solutions, delivering the HP Mobile Printing Software Development Kit (SDK) for mobile printing and enabling companies such as PalmSource to add printing capabilities for the Palm OS® and Sony Ericsson to add print functionality to mobile devices and applications. 

HP is working with partners and promoting standards to make printing simple for mobile professionals. "Our customers want to be more productive by printing from mobile devices, but they want the experience to be just as simple and straight-forward as printing is from the desktop," said Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president, HP Imaging and Printing Group.

The HP Mobile Enterprise Printing Solution: The server-based HP Mobile Enterprise Printing Solution incorporates technology from Adobe and RIM, enabling corporate IT managers to meet the growing demand for mobile printing. The solution allows mobile business users to easily print a broad range of documents from Pocket PC 2002 and RIM Blackberry devices. The HP Mobile Enterprise Printing Solution integrates into existing wired network infrastructures and provides mobile access to any networked printer within an enterprise. It also reduces print management costs by enabling IT professionals to troubleshoot print jobs, view status, track system performance and monitor users through a simple Web-based management tool.

HP Mobile Printing for Pocket PC: This solution allows users of Pocket PC devices to print their critical information, including e-mails, images, appointments, contacts, Pocket Word and Microsoft® Office files. As a standalone solution, HP Mobile Printing for Pocket PC allows mobile professionals to print any resident content on their mobile devices directly to networked, and Bluetooth- and infrared-enabled printers. In addition, it provides Pocket PC devices access to the robust capabilities of the HP Mobile Enterprise Printing Solution.

The HP Mobile Public Printing Solution: This solution delivers notebook PC printing capability in public venues, including hotels, corporate guest offices, airports and other so-called "hot spots." The solution integrates with Cisco's Building Broadband Service Manager and Guest-Tek broadband access technology to add printing to their high-speed Internet access solutions. The HP Mobile Public Printing Solution is available in the United States to businesses interested in providing public print services for their customers.

HP Jetdirect 802.11 Wireless Print Servers: HP Jetdirect 802.11 print servers are the only print servers available to support 802.1x Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP), including Cisco's LEAP implementation. The HP Jetdirect 280m, 380x and 680n 802.11 print servers provide IT professionals with a secure method to allow wireless printing within an enterprise across a wide range of print and multifunction devices. HP Jetdirect 802.11 print servers are available now worldwide.

HP Developers Program and Mobile Printing Software Development Kit: This Mobile Printing SDK enables simple and reliable mobile printing to applications, services and devices by providing developers with the tools and code libraries necessary to add mobile print functionality. The HP Developers Program enables developers and device vendors to add mobile print functionality based on the Print Services Interface standard. The HP Developers Program is collaborating with PalmSource to enable printing for the Palm OS, while Sony Ericsson is enabling standards-based mobile printing from mobile phones to Bluetooth-enabled printers, including the HP Deskjet 450 printer. The SDK is expected to be available on Oct. 31 through the HP Developers Program.

For more information: http://www.hp.com

MobileInfo Comments and Advisory: Printing is HP's domain expertise. We had expected HP to move faster in this space but it was busy in merger politics. It is high time HP moved into this space. Better late than never!

Note: This news release may contain forward-looking statements. Readers should take appropriate caution in developing plans utilizing these products, services and technology architectures.  All trademarks used in this summary are the property of their respective owners.