HP JetDirect, 1200w Offer Secure, Driverless Mobile Printing

By Michelle Maisto

The M800 series, says HP, are the first enterprise printers and multifunction printers (MFPs) with touch-to-print functionality and wireless direct connectivity. Thanks to these options, a user doesn’t have to be connected to the network or wireless network to print—a saving grace for mobile workers, contractors and office visitors.

Instead of signing on using wireless direct technology—which enables visitors to print while keeping the network secure—a user can choose to connect via NFC, by touching an NFC-enabled device to the JetDirect 2800w module.

The 2800w comes with the M806 (which starts at $3,399) or can be purchased separately ($49) and used with HP’s installed base of 40 million LaserJet and Officejet printers.

The M880 can print 55 pages per minute, scan 80 pages per minute (both sides) and features EveryPage—the technology used by ATMs to make sure one page slides out at a time. It can scan and save to the cloud, or email scanned or copied documents, also letting a user type an email or make changes, using the included keyboard and display and optical character recognition (OCR) technology.

The LaserJet M830 will be available Oct. 1, starting at $10,999, while the Color LaserJet 880 will be available Nov. 1, starting at $8,999.

Designed for small and midsize businesses, the M125/M127 is HP’s smallest MFP. It features print, scan, copy and fax capabilities, and can scan to (or retrieve from) cloud storage sites like GoogleDocs or Box.net. Pricing ranges from $140-$259.

Ideal for law offices, mortgage companies, health care facilities or any vertical where thousands of pages need to be scanned each day, the ScanJet Enterprise Flow 5000 transforms paper files into editable digital files, can store to cloud servers, features EveryPage technology to ensure no page goes unscanned, and is priced at $799.

Like the JetDirect 2800w, the 1200w (at a $39 promotional price) is a quick, USB-connecting way to add mobile printing capabilities to an already deployed HP printer. Plug it in, and users with iOS, Android, Windows Phone (and, to a more limited degree, the BlackBerry 10) devices can print wirelessly.

HP has worked with Apple since 2010 to enable AirPrint—the ability to print from the latest iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch devices without the need for a printer driver.

With its Oct. 1 announcements, HP has opened up mobile printing to just about any smartphone or tablet running one of the top four mobile platforms.