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 Enterprise Network Printing January 20, 1999 |
 Distributed PrintingA key advantage of deploying multiple printers is that distributed printing also provides better load-balancing. For instance, multiple printers will allow a very large job to print on one printer, while letting other users print. By using multiple printers, you also will be able to more easily deploy specific features by installing an additional printer that supports a specific feature. For example, if you have an occasional need for tabloid printing, it makes sense to get two printers that just support letter and legal print jobs and add a third that also supports tabloid print jobs.If you need a more robust load-balancing solution, there are third-party tools that allow greater control. For example, with Tektronix's PhaserPool, a pool of printers can be established whereby users submit print jobs to a single print queue. Yet each print job is printed on the next available printer in the pool. PhaserPool can be configured to print the document on the next available printer or the next ready printer. Alternatively, it can distribute copies of the print job to multiple printers for faster output. So, if you have four Tektronix printers, and you print 100 copies of a document, PhaserPool can send 25 copies to each printer, cutting your overall print time by 75 percent. PhaserPool runs on Microsoft Windows NT and only works with Tektronix printers. Another important factor to keep in mind is the geographic locations of the printer, print server and users. Since most print configurations involve a print server that spools the print job before it is sent to the printer, you need to make sure that the printer, print server and users are close to each other if possible. While this might seem obvious, there have been many instances where users have relocated and their administrators have failed to either assign them to a new printer and print server or move their printer and/or print server closer to their new location.
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