At one time or another, you've probably sent a file to print and waited around while nothing happened. That's called virtually printing. But don't be mistaken: Dataproducts' Virtual Printing Technology, or VPT for short, is something quite different. VPT adds network smarts to printers by acknowledging and receiving up to 64 different printer configurations concurrently, each with its own network protocol, operating system, printing language, default resolution, paper size, font, and orientation. So, instead of stopping stone-cold when it receives a file it can't print, a printer with VPT rejects that file and goes about printing the files that it can.
Dataproducts designed VPT to work on any network printer, althoug
h different printers might support a different range of VPT features. When a VPT-enhanced printer receives a document addressed to one of its virtual printers, it adjusts its configuration accordingly. For example, one user's virtual printer might translate to an Apple EtherTalk, System 7.0, PageMaker file in 800- by 800-dpi resolution using PostScript Level 2, 12-point Gothic type, on letter-size paper, in landscape orientation. At the same time, another client on the network could click on the Print command and automatically evoke an entirely different setup.
VPT follows the client/server model: The VPT-equipped printer is the server, and the computers that send it jobs are clients, each appearing as a separate network node. By default, the NOS (network operating system) handles queuing and prioritization; alternatively, you could use middle-management systems to provide print-queuing and spooling services.
Dataproducts' VPT associates all of a printer's user-configurable parameters as 64 virt
ual ports, thus performing an elaborate form of emulation switching. VPT can also give you access to printer features that aren't selectable in your host-resident drivers.
And while VPT gives a network user the flexibility to configure a network printer as if it were his or her own personal printer, a network administrator can use VPT as an SNMP management utility that forces people to access printers in certain ways. For example, an administrator can set up a virtual printer so that only certain network users have access to certain trays. VPT also includes resource accounting, which enables an administrator to discern who is printing what, how many copies, and how often.
Dataproducts' VPT concurently supports such protocols as TCP/IP, Apple EtherTalk, Novell IPX, Token Ring, and Digital's LAT (Ethernet only). It supports more than 20 operating systems, including VMS, NetWare, LAN Manager, Windows, Windows NT, and 12 versions of Unix.
VPT 3.0 SUPPORTS:
-- LocalTalk
--
Bidirectional IEEE 1284 (parallel)
-- RS-232/RS-422 (serial)
-- 10Base-T/10Base-2 (Ethernet)
DEC LAT services
IPX services (Novell NetWare)
EtherTalk
TCP/IP services
-- UTP/STP Token Ring
IPX
EtherTalk
TCP/IP
Virtual Printers
