Ricoh Offers Remote Management System for Printers

Printing services specialist Ricoh Americas Corporation announced @Remote Office Intelligent Remote Management System, which allows businesses to remotely manage Ricoh devices, optimize device usage and reduce total cost of ownership. This includes collecting device data, receiving and reporting service and toner alerts and enabling remote firmware upgrades. In addition, @Remote’s secured and Web-based reporting portal transforms captured data into reports on population and usage as well as “green reporting” capabilities.

The Remote Management System is the latest enhancement to the @Remote Product Suite and is based on a Linux thin server appliance. Office generates utilization reports that are available online and businesses can access them anytime. These reports show a variety of critical metrics using simple, intuitive graphics for Ricoh and third-party devices.

With @Remote Office, administrators can examine print, copy, scan and/or fax volumes from managed Ricoh devices and identify under- or overused systems, reallocate resources and final optimal device placements. In addition, these usage reports can help enable administrators to track trends in energy and paper consumption on managed Ricoh devices over time and make better decisions about sustainability policies with @Remote Green Reports.

“Managing a fleet of networked printers and multifunction products without automated tools is expensive, time-consuming and is a constant challenge,” said Shun Sato, senior vice president of marketing for Ricoh Americas. “@Remote Office gives network administrators, financial managers and procurement officers unprecedented power to improve service and enhance productivity – all while reducing total cost of ownership.”

Usage data for the fleet is automatically aggregated by the @Remote service and made available, through a secure Web portal, as Fleet Utilization reporting, and @Remote also collects Print, Copy, and Fax output usage data for Ricoh devices, as well as collecting total print meter for legacy and third-party devices. Out of the box, each Remote Communications Gate A appliance monitors up to 500 network devices and manages up to 100 Ricoh devices, standard. Optional memory and storage upgrades expand monitoring capabilities from 500 to 1,500 network devices and management capabilities for Ricoh 100 to 1,000 Ricoh devices, the company noted.

Richoh said @Remote Office is also designed to maximize information and network security, utilizing both data encryption as well as the highly secure HTTPS standard protocol, and the solution has been submitted for an Information Technology Security Certification. The company said the certification is expected to be received in the fourth quarter of 2010. In addition, the @Remote Office appliance automatically transmits encrypted device usage data (including meter data) to the secure @Remote hosting facility.