Network printing allows multiple users to share a printer, thereby saving cost by reducing the number of printers required for an organization. Although most of today’s business printers are network-capable, there is still an important need for print servers in a number of different areas, including:

• Wireless printing. Perhaps the biggest advance in network printing in recent years has been the addition of wireless printing capabilities. With wireless capabilities, the printer can be placed in locations where running cables is difficult or impossible, and it also allows the printer to be easily moved around. Because the cost of wireless connectivity has dropped substantially in recent years, it is can even be cost-effective to install printers in new locations using a wireless connection rather than installing additional cables.
• Remote printing. An emerging application for print servers is remote printing over the Internet. This capability allows a computer in one city to send a print job to a printer in a different city over the Internet. It is a cheaper and higher quality way to send hardcopy documents than fax, and it is much easier for the recipient than e-mail attachments.
• Security. Security has become a pressing issue in most organizations. But security is only as strong as its weakest link. So if your networked printer is not secure, then your whole netwok is potentially vulnerable to hackers. To address this issue, Silex offers the strongest security capabilities in the industry, including 802.1x authentication, datastream encryption, access control lists, and WPA/WPA-2 wireless networking security.
• Low-end inkjet/MFP/AIO printers. The advantages of network printing are now becoming apparent to small businesses and home users, who also need to share a printer among multiple users. The problem is that most of the low-end inkjets, multifunction peripherals, and all-in-one printers were not designed to be networkable. As a result, Silex developed our USB device servers with their special SX-Virtual Link USB networking technology that enables network printing on these types of devices.
• Specialty printers. Many barcode and other types of specialty printers have special interfacing requirements that can be solved with products like Silex's SX-500 and SX-550.
  

Case Studies

L-3 Government Services Uses silex SecurePrint for Simple and Effective Secure Printing of Confidential Documents

When L-3 Government Services, Inc. needed to find a way to increase security and onfidentiality when printing company documents, they turned to a solution called SecurePrint, which requires a pre-registered user to touch a biometric fingerprint reader at the printer before
releasing documents.

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The Top-10 Benefits of USB Device Connectivity