Add RIM (Blackberry) to the Fedex Office, Canon, HP deal (???)

The article, below, is a follow-on to the post I did earlier this morning about the Fedex Office / Canon / HP deal. The article i'm reprinting below comes from crackberry.com and was written by Isaac Kendall.

RIM, FedEx Office, Hilton Worldwide Join HP to Make Printing On-the-Go Reality for Enterprise Blackberry Users
By Isaac Kendall | 26 Apr 2010 01:17 |

Thankfully we don't travel with steamer trunks anymore. But for business travel we still hump around the country with a travel suitcase AND the coveted laptop bag. With products like the Blackberry Presenter we dare to dream that we can travel without the laptop.

It's great that the laptop isn't needed to do PowerPoint presentations but there are times when printing documents on the go still require a laptop. Well now RIM, FedEx, and Hilton have joined forces with HP to enable the Enterprise Blackberry user more laptop independent. Hit the jump for the full release.

PALO ALTO, Calif., April 21, 2010 - HP today announced a new services delivery platform - the HP MPS Smart Decision Suite - that enables customers to better analyse, report and predict the use of their imaging and printing devices through an HP Managed Print Services (MPS) engagement.

In addition, HP introduced HP ePrint Enterprise mobile printing solution, based on HP CloudPrint technology and available on the BlackBerry®smartphone.(1) This announcement is the result of HP and Research In Motion's (RIM) strategic alliance announced last year and is the first use case of HP's ePrint strategy. HP ePrint also will be available at public print locations through FedEx Office and Hilton Worldwide, providing mobile enterprise workers a secure remote printing experience.(2)

Customers who have recently selected HP MPS include ISS Facility Services, America First Credit Union and Rosemount Inc.

"Our enterprise customers need us to help them bring order to the chaos of their technology fleet," said Bruce Dahlgren, senior vice president, Managed Enterprise Solutions, Imaging and Printing Group, HP. "Today, we can show them proven return on investment with the right mix of software tools, workflow solutions and mobile workflow innovations - bringing it all together through a scalable Managed Print Services engagement."

Manage environment to increase visibility and efficiency

For an enhanced management experience, the HP MPS Smart Decision Suite integrates front-end capabilities with back-end services infrastructure. By enhancing IT visibility and providing greater access into printing fleets, the suite enables global standard delivery processes and capabilities. This provides customers with a strategic view of device and solution availability, an optimally deployed fleet, real-time access to information and, as a result, improved efficiency and cost savings.

To help customers better manage telecommuting workforces, HP has extended the HP Web Jetadmin offering to allow IT departments to configure both networked and USB-connected devices and write rules-based printing, including items such as automatic duplexing and color access control.

Improve workflow to strengthen productivity and reduce costs

Created in collaboration with RIM, HP ePrint Enterprise enables employees to print from their BlackBerry smartphones to printers on their trusted network and to printers at HP ePrint-supported locations and FedEx Office.

Many HP ePrint locations are powered by the PrinterOn® network of public printers, called PrintSpots®. PrinterOn is HP's print network partner for relevant print locations, including Hilton Worldwide.

• More than 1,300 hotels in the Hilton Worldwide portfolio of brands have PrintSpots in the PrinterOn network, including Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Hotels, Doubletree, Embassy Suites Hotels, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Hotels and Homewood Suites by Hilton. Hilton has announced today its intention to enable the HP ePrint technology in June 2010.
• Additionally, FedEx Office (formerly FedEx Kinko's) is implementing the solution across its network of more than 1,800 locations, giving users access to ePrint through the world's largest retail printing network. The deployment for FedEx Office is scheduled for later this year.

HP Enterprise Production Print Solutions consists of a suite of options that provide companies with onsite, offsite and near-site production print capabilities.

• HP Onsite Copy/Print and Mailroom Services enable comprehensive day-to-day operations management.
• HP Enterprise Services Document Processing Services specialize in digitizing, storing, archiving and retrieving documents - and include high-volume print and mail services.
• HP Virtual Print Center, a turnkey HP portal available with MPS contracts, enables users to efficiently produce, manage and distribute printed materials on demand.

HP also introduced solutions from HP Exstream, a fully integrated software platform for creating, managing and delivering customized customer communications in high-volume, on-demand and interactive environments.

• HP Exstream Application Manager shares data across applications, streamlines content integration and centralizes content compliance.
• HP Exstream Command Center streamlines production processes through automated job scheduling and helps maximize return on investment by efficiently managing throughput across production engines.

Optimize infrastructure to save costs

Last week, FedEx Office announced it will use Canon and HP as sole-source providers in their respective printing categories and will deploy more than 12,000 new Canon and HP printing devices across more than 1,800 locations in the United States and Canada.

HP's alliance with Canon is yielding global results. Recent work together includes offering the latest devices from Canon's imageRUNNER ADVANCE lineup as part of an HP MPS engagement.

HP has expanded the HP Printing Payback Guarantee, an industry-first program designed to provide companies risk-free entry into HP MPS engagements, to Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.

Scalable and flexible HP Managed Print Services

HP continues to offer broad, flexible procurement options with HP MPS, based on agreed upon print policies with enterprise customers. Billing options include Level Pay, Base + Click, Cost Per Page and cost per page with no minimums.

Flexible financing solutions and sale-leaseback services also are offered from HP Financial Services, the company's leasing and life cycle asset management services subsidiary.

Enabling the channel

HP will offer HP Access Control Printing Solutions through the channel as part of its strategy to enable reseller partners to be more competitive. Today's offerings are an extension of the imaging and printing channel enhancements the company announced in September 2009.

HP Access Control Printing Solutions help mitigate security and compliance risks by helping to control and protect access to imaging and printing devices and documents and to facilitate tracking and monitoring the usage of documents. The solutions available to customers through reseller partners include: HP Access Control Intelligent Print Manager, HP Access Control Job Accounting and HP Access Control Secure Print Express.

Detailed information on these new solutions and services is available on the What's New page. A virtual tradeshow and webcast are available at HP Enterprise website