The Belgian Wastewater Specialist has Been Using PrinterLogic’s Enterprise Printing Solution for More Than a Decade Across 100 Locations
St. George, UTAH—June 25, 2015—Many companies choose PrinterLogic as their print management solution because they want to eliminate existing print servers. Over a decade ago, the Belgian wastewater specialist, Aquafin, first approached PrinterLogic because they wanted to manage several hundred Novell IP printers across 100 locations without having to use print servers at all.
“When we first heard about PrinterLogic from our peers, it sounded too good to be true,” says Benni Dillen, System Engineer for Aquafin. “We thought we were going to need to invest a lot in print servers for all our locations, so we were pleasantly surprised to find out we could manage all our printers without print servers—while gaining all the functionality.”
That marked the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship between PrinterLogic and Aquafin, a company that specializes in the design, financing, building and operation of all infrastructure needed to treat domestic wastewater. Today Aquafin manages 281 wastewater treatment plants and 1,394 pumping stations.
PrinterLogic provided the company with a printer management solution that was able to unify their distributed IP printers by means of a single central management console.
“Anyone who has ever had to manage hundreds of disparate Novell printers across many locations knows how difficult and time-consuming it can be. We needed something simple for our distributed users, so that we didn’t have to physically install printers on every laptop, in person, for 1,000 users,” says Dillen.
“As soon as we deployed PrinterLogic, all of our users were able to easily select which printers they want to print from, without any configuration or setup on their end. And we were able to roll this out to all users from headquarters.”
The Next Phase
Later there came a time when Aquafin wanted to migrate away from Novell to Microsoft Active Directory—which actually meant adding print servers to an enterprise printing environment that previously had none. Once again, PrinterLogic’s print management software proved essential to the transition, enabling a seamless migration across all 100 locations.
“We knew that PrinterLogic’s value proposition was all about helping eliminate print servers, so we were pleasantly surprised to learn that it also makes the management and updating of print servers significantly easier, too,” says Dillen.
Although it usually takes a great deal of time to add printers into the new environment during Novell migrations, PrinterLogic helps slash this time expenditure through the simple import of Novell printers directly into its management portal or easy migration of printers to Windows print servers. Aquafin ultimately decided to deploy four print servers, and PrinterLogic made it possible for the company to seamlessly migrate all new printers to them.
Eliminating Print Servers, Again
Even more recently, Aquafin decided to eliminate print servers throughout the company and upgrade to Windows 8. That marked the third major change to the company’s printing environment in just ten years. But the flexibility of PrinterLogic meant that their enterprise could quickly adapt to whatever platform suited them best—all without losing functionality.
“With half of our workforce spread out across remote locations, we need a solution that could eliminate our print servers while still providing a simple self-serve solution for our end users,” Dillen says.
PrinterLogic allowed Aquafin to maintain the streamlined central management of the company’s entire distributed print environment while retaining the functionality of its print servers. That powerful combination—augmented by PrinterLogic’s simple and intuitive interface—led to a reduction in the amount of print-related service desk calls. Remote employees can now easily find and select the nearest printer, regardless of where they happen to be.
“We have all the functionality of print servers, but without the cost and complexity,” says Dillen. “And we’ve seen a massive reduction in print-related help desk calls, which saves my team a ton of time.”
Past-, Present- and Future-Proofed
“For 10 years now, we have relied on PrinterLogic to help us through all the changes in our print environment, and they have helped us navigate those changes flawlessly,” says Dillen. In that time, PrinterLogic has helped Aquafin easily manage, migrate and optimize their evolving print environment.
Not only has Aquafin seen cost savings through the reduced hours spent dealing with service desk calls, they have also seen significant savings when it comes to deploying printers, managing printers, and the elimination of time spent managing and upgrading print servers. With PrinterLogic, they’ll continue to see those savings into the future.
And the story doesn’t stop there. However Aquafin’s enterprise print environment might evolve in the coming years, they know that PrinterLogic will provide the flexibility they need to choose the optimal environment for their company—whether it involves print servers or not. No matter what migration the Aquafin team chooses to undertake, PrinterLogic will make it as simple and as seamless as it has for the past decade.
About PrinterLogic
Thousands of enterprises use PrinterLogic’s patent-pending printer and driver management platform to deliver Mobile, Pull and Virtual printing, while eliminating print servers and providing a self-service portal that empowers end users to install their own printers. PrinterLogic recently won the 2017 Buyers Laboratory prestigious Pick award as Outstanding Enterprise Print Environment Platform. In addition, the company has been recognized twice as one of the fastest growing companies in North America – being ranked number 141 overall (and 8th amongst software vendors) on the Inc. 5000 and number 107 on the Deloitte Fast 500. For more information, or for a free trial, please visit www.printerlogic.com. Questions? Watch our video or connect with us on Twitter at @PrinterLogic or follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram and Google+.