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| The two major players in the wireless printing environment are: |
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Bluetooth |
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Wi-Fi (or 802.11) |
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While no one technology has emerged as the dominant market leader, each has a strong support base in terms of technology enhancement as well as product availability.
Bluetooth, a radio-based technology, has garnered a great deal of interest and support from various manufacturers; it appears in a wide variety of devices, such as cell phones, PDAs, laptops, and printers. Two Bluetooth devices can automatically communicate when they come within range of each other, making this technology convenient and easy to use. However, the transmission rate for Bluetooth is a maximum of 1 Mbps and the range is somewhat limited at 30 feet.
Many printers, like the HP Deskjet 460wbt Mobile Printer (C8153A), have built-in Bluetooth technology, which allows you to extend wireless printing to all members of a workgroup who have Bluetooth-enabled PDAs or notebooks and are within 30 feet of the printer. This approach to wireless printing is perfect for training rooms, ad hoc project rooms, small task centers, and other small and medium-sized areas that you regularly need to reconfigure or adapt to different uses.
Note: Many newer notebooks and PDAs come with Bluetooth support built in, and you can easily enable older systems with a Bluetooth card. For more information on equipping a notebook or PDA to print to a Bluetooth-enabled printer, review the "Print on the Go How-To Guide" linked at right.
The Wi-Fi wireless network is based on the IEEE 802.11 standard, and includes 802.11b (an 11 Mbps technology, currently the most popular form of Wi-Fi), 802.11a (a 54 Mbps technology, a newer and emerging favorite), and 802.11g (55 Mbps). Wi-Fi has become a very popular medium as more manufacturers release higher-quality products at reasonable prices. Typical implementations for 802.11 wireless networking include connecting laptops to corporate networks, and allowing home networking users to connect PCs together without introducing new wiring. With a transmission distance of around 300 feet and a throughput rate that tops out at 55 Mbps, Wi-Fi provides ample throughput for most wireless applications.
A wireless print server like those in the HP Jetdirect family can turn just about any wired printer into a wireless printer. Once you've freed your printer from its cables, you can offer users a flexible printing service that lets you reconfigure your network printing infrastructure in a matter of minutes. If different groups in your office need to share a color laser printer for big projects, you can put it on a cart and freely wheel it from area to area to match demand. As you redesign your office space, you can plan to place printers where they are most convenient for users, instead of where a network drop happens to be. Does a printer best serve a workgroup on a stand in the middle of a common area (a location most unfriendly to cables)? Put it there. The possibilities and permutations are endless when your printers are unfettered.
Tip: Wireless Jetdirect print servers are available in both internal and external versions. Learn more about which one to choose in the next section of this guide.
When you extend Wi-Fi capabilities to your printer with a Jetdirect wireless print server, you don't just lose the wires -- you gain print management tools. Installation utilities like the Wireless Setup Wizard make configuration straightforward and fast, and all HP Jetdirect print servers come with embedded Web servers and HP Web Jetadmin software that make all of the tools you need to administer the printer available from the closest Web browser.
Protocols and products aside, there's some planning involved if you want to make the most of your wireless printing solutions. In the next section, you'll learn how to design the blueprint for your wireless printing environment. |
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Implementing wireless printing | |
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