What is Print Tracker?

Print Tracker is a non-invasive software solution for gathering meter reads from copiers, MFPs, and printers. In general, installation requires little or no onsite IT involvement. Meter data is passed securely through firewalls using HTTPS protocols, similar to how web browsers communicate with banking websites. Print Tracker is proxy-compatible and does not create security vulnerabilities. The software is used around the world in banks, hospitals, schools — any place with high-security needs.

Print Tracker has a very small impact on network performance, running as a service that is usually asleep and waking up as needed throughout the day to perform required tasks.

Print Tracker pulls the device description, IP address, serial number, location, page counts, and toner levels. It can be set up to send toner and service alerts as well. Printing devices that are compliant with the standard Printer MIB are discoverable, including Canon, HP, Konica Minolta, Kyocera, Lanier, Lexmark, Ricoh, Sharp, Panasonic, and Xerox. For a list of devices and models, Print Tracker discovers, click http://printtracker.net/Discoverable_Devices.pdf.

Why use Print Tracker?

• Print Tracker automatically gathers the meters and emails them as an Excel spreadsheet attachment when scheduled.
• Print Tracker’s installation program is under 4 MB in size. The software can be run from a USB drive, rather than installing it, if desired.
• Print Tracker has a very small impact on network performance. It runs as a service that is usually asleep and wakes up a few times during the day to perform required tasks.
• Device discovery is quick. A typical segment can be searched in just a couple of minutes.
• Print Tracker does not rely on the email system of the end customer to send meter data. It posts the data securely to a web server, from which the data is downloaded and sent via Print Tracker email.
• Print Tracker can monitor locally-connected printers as well as network devices, including copiers and MFPs.
• You’ll hardly know it’s there, and if you do have a question, Print Tracker is unsurpassed in providing quality, timely support.

How does Print Tracker work?

Print Tracker first discovers any locally attached devices (printer, fax or scan ports) that are managed by the Windows Spooler service. Devices are queried to determine whether or not they are printing devices. Print Tracker continues by sending out a broadcast to the local network requesting that devices respond. A list of nearby network segments is retrieved and is displayed for the user to designate which segments Print Tracker is to scan when searching for network devices. Devices responding to Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) will be discovered. These same segments can be periodically and automatically searched to determine if new devices have been installed on the customer’s network.

If a device is not automatically discovered during the network scan, it can be added manually by clicking on the “Add” button and entering either the Network Name or the IP address of the device. Alternatively, an entire subnet can be searched.

When devices that respond to SNMP requests are discovered, the gathered data is stored in a local database table. When it is time to send the data in a report, the data is sent to the web server using the HTTPS protocol, similar to how browsers communicate with banking websites. All of the data is encrypted before it is sent. HTTPS is a secure protocol.

Uploaded meter data is then pulled down from the web server in a separate process, put into an Excel spreadsheet, and emailed out to the email addresses entered in Print Tracker. This process is fast, generally taking only a minute or two.