Google has standardised on PaperCut’s MF to underpin its internal print infrastructure. The move follows the deprecation of Google Cloud Print, a service that enabled internal and external users to print from any Cloud Print-aware application, on any device in the network cloud to any printer with native support for connecting to cloud print services. PaperCut MF – which offers powerful print management for printers and multifunction devices – met Google’s requirement for a solution that offers flexible print management across Google’s complex print environment, which caters for approximately 200,000 employees and nearly 3,000 printers across all of its offices globally.
When looking to replace Google Cloud Print, the company assessed two options. The first was to take over the infrastructure for what used to be Cloud Print as a public product and make it internalised only, while maintaining that infrastructure. The second option was to find a product and vendor that could work with Google and support its security and infrastructure needs. Google’s Chrome team proposed a number of print vendors as an enterprise alternative for Google Cloud Print, among which PaperCut MF stood out, in part for its support for BeyondCorp, Google’s own zero trust model, and native OS printing across the four major platforms at Google – Linux, Mac, Windows and Chrome OS. PaperCut MF was also able to provide support for mobile devices, and the ability to badge in order to collect prints, as well as direct printing.
A Proof of Concept (PoC) exercise within Google Cloud conducted with three vendors, put a spotlight on PaperCut’s superior capabilities, scalability for future expansion and high availability as well as its suitability for enterprise organisations. Its ease of use also impressed, with PaperCut’s PoC up and running on the Google Cloud Platform within days, testing domains and instances smoothly and easily.
Ideally suited to Google’s needs, PaperCut MF will help shrink its print bills, enabling Google to ‘give back’ to the environment and its print budget. PaperCut MF’s eco-friendly policies will encourage less paper use which, in turn, saves on toner and electricity, and makes sustainable habits the status quo among users. PaperCut MF does that through innovative features like Responsible Reminders which help to implement print policies on-the-fly, via friendly pop-ups that prompt users to print in duplex or grayscale. Also helping to make overflowing recycling bins a thing of the past, are features like Secure Print Release, while actionable reports provide full print visibility to help unlock in-depth insights and stats.
Steve Holmes, EMEA Director, PaperCut, said: “Organisations of all sizes are looking to simplify their print with solutions that are flexible enough to scale according to their ever-evolving business needs. Google is one example of a PaperCut customer that needed to take a new approach to print – one that could accommodate the intricate needs of a global organisation that prioritises security, collaboration and sustainability across multiple teams that practise hybrid working – while delivering tangible benefits in terms of ease of use, security and sustainability.”
Ofer Bar-Zakai, Google’s Operations and Engineering Manager, added: “Previously, Google built its own cloud print solutions, which up until last year customers were also able to use. Following its deprecation, we needed to implement a scalable and robust print architecture that met our security, flexibility and sustainability standards, which is very important to Google. The idea that we could literally just save paper when printing was appealing for us from the get-go. Therefore, with PaperCut MF, we have found a solution that does just that, and one that will help pave the way for future evolution of our print environment. Google chose PaperCut MF because it’s the best printing solution we could find for our needs.”
—