Printing in Virtual Desktop Environments

In many companies, printing is and remains a business-critical function. Even minor performance problems may lead to financial losses. Smooth and stable work processes in a company’s printing environment reduce the pressure on the IT department and improve employee productivity considerably.

Entire projects can fail at the print stage if there is a lack of planning for printing right from the start. Complex printer allocation in virtualized environments is a major challenge: Irrespective of location, every user would always like to find the right printers. In addition, managing the printer drivers causes significant time and effort. This can lead to misprints, for example in mixed 32/64-bit environments. Print data are often up to ten times bigger than the original file following transmission. As a result, the network is often seriously congested – this may then lead to slow printouts and poor session performance.
 

Perfect Printing With the ThinPrint Engine

As a provider of virtualization solutions, VMware has integrated the basic functions of ThinPrint print management software into its desktop virtualization solution. If companies also require optimal printing support, a considerable increase in performance, significant cost savings, and extensive print features in all environments without exception, then they require the ThinPrint Engine.
 

Complete Control when Printing in VDI Environments

The ThinPrint basic technology contained in VMware includes keeping virtual desktops free of drivers, and compression during print data transmission between virtual desktop and physical device. The separately available ThinPrint Engine print management solution also frees the complete client hardware and all the virtual desktops of printer drivers. The entire print volume is managed centrally in one place within the company. All the required local and network printers are automatically allocated to the users with ThinPrint AutoConnect. The individual components of the ThinPrint Engine ensure compressed, quick printing on all connections up to the printer. For example, ThinPrint’s Advanced Adaptive Compression permits the maximum compression of print data, even en route from the print server to the printer. Companies benefit in their VDI environment from comprehensive print support and thanks to detailed reporting they always remain in full control.

We explain in this white paper how the ThinPrint Engine addresses these challenges in virtual desktop environments. Problems related to bandwidth management, print data compression or printer driver management can be finally resolved.
 
Download White Paper