Uniflow - Pretty but not worth the money.

I asked around for some quotes for print and copy management software, the results are pretty silly really :)

UniFlow
Uniflow demo went well until the Canon guy lied to me to say they didn’t let other people develop app's for Canon machines. Also I was unconvinced about the flexibility of the system what if my card reader technology changes in the future? (not that I have picked anything just yet).
Also the cost of uniflow was just silly and frankly I don't want to only have Canon machines, as good as they are thing's change, in 2 year's time I may want Lexmark copiers and be able to use my chosen print/copy software with it.
One good feature was Job Ticketing, where you could let people know what they need to do to get the print. Of course this was an "optional module" along with most of the good and useful tools other people throw in for free... /sigh!

So uniflow was expensive, also (and this may be wrong) I read it couldn’t talk to Active Directory, this is madness!

On paper Uniflow looks the business but not once you start to look under the rug or get the price list.

While Canon machines/support/service all seemed fine I just didn’t like the software as it tied me to Canon and was very expensive.

The cost of the Canon machines was more than reasonable but nothing that stood out from other offerings.

Copier Dealer

So I know what software I wanted to install now to wonder off and find some copiers to make it all work together.

My First concern at this time was with Uniflow as that is a Canon product based on the MEAP platform so not exactly "vendor neutral" as they call it. Of course on the flip side Canon copiers are damn good machines. My second concern of the Uniflow option would be cost so let’s hope my fears are unfounded.

So how do you find copier dealers in the South East?
Do you even need to stick to the South East? would I find a better deal (albeit slower call out times) by looking "Up North" or anywhere in the UK really.
Call out times don’t bother me too much the UK is not the largest country in the world so an engineer can be on site next day and hopefully I picked some maintenance free machines.

After a quick look on Edugeek /Google and some phone calls to potential providers I came up with this short list (in no particular order)

Alpha Reprographic
1st Office Equipment
Balreed Digitec
Datasharp Business Solutions
Complete Imaging
Portrayal
Integrating Solutions Limited (ISL)

I did not go to the manufacturers direct (such as Canon / Ricoh / Sharp / Toshiba)
At the same time I learnt that Ricoh also sell under these names nashuatec, gestetner, NRG, rex rotary, IKON, Savier, Lanier, Monroe.

So what now? Well a few emails/calls and I got some rough quotes with many offers to be visited and to be demo’d some of the software (equitrac and uniflow)
Now I don’t know about you but I am pessimistic :) and think anyone that is coming to visit me to demo a product must be expensive to cover their time, or just nice guys!

So I had my copier dealers picked and I knew what software I wanted to test it was time to actually spend some time setting up some virtual machines + I already have a Ricoh copier doing nothing to try out some of the “vendor neutral” embedded solutions to see how well they work.

So much to do so little time!

The Task

My "boss" who bless him seems to know less than most people about IT sent me an email just after Christmas to "investigate and test print monitoring solutions, including if possible tracking of our copier fleet"

I always think a copier fleet is a silly term it wouldn't make much of a navy..

Anyway off i wondered to google.com and typed in Print Monitoring Software this produced about 11,000,000 results but as always only the first two pages of search results and adwords were worth looking at.

So after an hour or so on google and Edugeek and various other sites i came up with a short list (in no particular order)

Print limit pro
Equitrac
Pcounter
PaperCut
Uniflow

I even went and had a look at using a Linux box and CUP's to save some money..

Hello World

As with all good IT staff members I created a blog before I went all Michael Douglas in falling down on the other staff and students I face on a daily basis.

I created this blog using Google blogger, I looked at wordpress but felt blogger was better for my simple needs.

The blog is mostly about Print monitoring software such as Equitrac, Pcounter, PaperCut, Uniflow, Print Limit Pro etc.. and my fight to find the best of the bunch.

I expect it will also act as somewhere to vent myself on an unsuspecting public!