Black Box 10384 User Manual

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Black Box Corporation • 1000 Park Drive • Lawrence, PA 15055-1018 • Tech Support: 724-746-5500 • www.blackbox.com • e-mail: [e-mail]

© 2005. All rights reserved.

Black Box Corporation.

02/24/2003 #10384

Improves document
security on networked
printers that are
shared by many users.

Works with most
printing devices.

Use to monitor and log
printer usage.

Full accounts on a per­user, cost center and
printer basis.

A complete hardware
and software package.

Simple to use and
install with intuitive
user interface.

Includes its own
10/100 network
connection.

Extra ID cards
available.

F

ollowMe Printing not only gives

you a practical way to protect
the privacy of documents sent to a
printer shared by multiple network
users, but it’s also an ideal tool for
monitoring your overall printer
usage.

The system enables a print job
to be sent from any Windows PC
to a secure designated server
(running TCP/IP on Windows NT 4,
Windows XP, or Windows 2000),
which holds the print job until the
person who printed it arrives at
the printer. The user carries a
”proximity” card that identifies
them as an authorized user. This
card, once recognized by the
FollowMe Printing ID card reader,
prompts the system to print the
document held on the server.

The card-based system
improves confidentiality for
sensitive documents sent to
shared printers, particularly high­end ones located in open-office
environments.

Because FollowMe Printing
offers a more efficient way of
controlling the printing process,

Secure that centrally located

printer and keep track of

print jobs by user or by

department.

Key Features

FOLLOWME PRINTING SYSTEM

you can reduce associated
printing costs and consumables,
such as for toner and paper.
What’s more, FollowMe Printing
gives you a low-tech solution that
requires minimal setup and
ongoing maintenance.

Simple to use and install with
its intuitive user interface,
FollowMe Printing is compatible
with all MFP/MFD devices, and its
hardware supports over 99% of
printers in the world that have a
parallel port.

All hardware and software are
included, and the system includes
its own network connection.

Setting up the components

FollowMe Printing works on a
client-server infrastructure with a
central server or servers handling
all print jobs in a similar way to a
print server.

Setting up FollowMe Printing
involves three main procedures:

• Attaching the ID card reader
and controller unit to the
printer, and adding a
10BASE-T or 100BASE-TX
network cable leading from

the controller to a network
hub or switch.

• Installing and configuring
FollowMe Printing client
software on as many PCs
on the network as required.

• Installing and configuring the
FollowMe Printing Q-Server
software onto the designated
server PC. Q-Server stores all
print jobs uploaded from the
client.

The client software

Once installed and configured
on any Windows 95/98/Me,
Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000,
or Windows XP machine, the
FollowMe Printing client software
operates transparently to the
client PC user.

To print from any application
while using the FollowMe Printing
system, simply follow your normal
print setup procedure and select
the required printer. The print job
will be automatically directed to
the PC running the Q-Server
software to await printing, and you
can use the client software to
view print jobs sent from the PC

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Hardware Requirements: IBM

®

compatible AT®computers with
CD-ROM drives

ID Card Reader Method: Smart

card/RF transponder

Operating System Requirements:

Server software: Windows

NT

®

4.0, Windows®2000,

Windows XP;

Client software: Windows

95/98/Me, Windows NT 4.0,

Windows 2000, Windows XP

LAN Type: Ethernet or Fast Ethernet

(10 or 100 Mbps)

User Controls: (1) status

switch/reset button

Connectors: Controller: To printer:

(1) DB25 F; To network: (1) RJ-45

(10/100 Mbps, autosensing);
To ID card reader: (1) RJ-11

Indicators: (3) LEDs:

(1) LK (yellow indicates network

link is intact);

(1) TX (red indicates transmittal

of data to network);

(1) RX (green indicates data

received from network)

Power: Controller:

Input: External 110–240 VAC,

50–60 Hz, autosensing;

Output: 5 VDC at 800 mA;
ID card reader: From the
attached controller

Size: Controller: 3.5"H x 6.5"W x 1.2"D

(8.9 x 16.5 x 3 cm)

Weight: 0.4 lb. (0.2 kg)

Specifications

that are waiting at the server. Only
when you‘re identified by the ID
card reader at the printer will Q­Server proceed to print the job.

A page within the client
software application displays all
print jobs that are being held on
the FollowMe Q-Server and await
printing. Once the job is printed, its
name disappears from the list. You
can delete the print job from the
server queue with a simple menu
click.

Extra management capabilities
are available by accessing the
administration window within the
client application. Configure the
FollowMe Printing client software,
for instance, to ask for an ID every
time a print job is sent. This option
is particularly useful if the PC has
multiple users or for sending a
print job to the Q-Server for
someone else to print out using
their ID card.

The controller

The controller is a standalone
hardware device that connects to
the system’s ID card reader.
FollowMe Printing offers two
possible controller configurations,
with the device operating either:

• as a network interface.

• or alongside an existing
network interface in which
the printer has its own IP
address.

In the former configuration,
the controller sits between the
Ethernet network and the printer,
with a cable running between the
parallel port on the the controller
to the parallel port on the printer.
In the latter, the controller has its
own network connection and IP
address.

Because the FollowMe
Printing controller has its own
Ethernet connection, it doesn‘t
require any changes to your
existing printer or it settings.

To connect the system’s ID
reader to the controller, simply run
the attached RJ-11 cable from the
reader to the controller‘s RJ-11
port.

In addition to an RJ-11 ID
reader port, parallel port, and
RJ-45 Ethernet port as well as a
power supply connection, the
controller unit features a status

page/reset button and network
monitoring LEDs. Use the reset
button to return the unit to its
factory-default settings. The LEDs
provide at-a-glance indications of
FollowMe Printing activity: The red
LED blinks when the controller
transmits data to the network;
the green LED blinks when the
controller receives data from the
network; and the yellow LED
informs you that the network link
is intact and operating.

The server software

As noted earlier, the FollowMe
Q-Server software installs on the
computer you designate as the
server PC. This software handles
all of the user-authentication
communication between the
printer, client PCs, and the
FollowMe Printing hardware.

Foremost, Q-Server enables
you to create cost models for
printers linked to the FollowMe
Printing system. Cost models can
then be directly associated with
cost centers, which provide you
with a method of organizing users
and printers into easily managed
groups or departments. This way,
you can gain an overall picture of
the amount of printing costs
incurred by specific departments.

These cost models can be
created, for example, to set up
the cost options for each type of
printer in your application. You
can set up a cost model for each
size of paper that a particular
printer can print as well as for
black and white, color, black and
white duplex, and color duplex
jobs.

Once set up, a cost model can
be applied to as many printers as
required. For instance, if your
office has three of the same type
of printer, you can expect that the
costs per page for each printer
will be identical, which means you
would need to create and apply
only one cost model to all three
printers.

But if you have two types of
printers (say, one that‘s for
outputting color and one that‘s for
outputting black and white), then
the costs per page would differ
and you would need different cost
models.

The software also features a
search utility that enables you to
quickly locate cost models from
those you’ve already created.

The Q-Server software also
includes password-protected
database facilities. The
information collated in the
database can be used to create
and print a variety of reports on
FollowMe Printing usage, whether
you require a report for a specific
user, cost center, printer, or prints
made on a specific date. This
gives you a versatile tool for
monitoring and managing printer
usage.

By default, FollowMe is set
up to operate with a Microsoft
Access database (although it’s
not necessary to have Access
installed on the PC to create
reports, you’ll need Access to
view the database itself).
However, you can also use a
SQL database with the Q-Server
software if you plan to generate
large amounts of data.

A user-friendly setup wizard
makes adding printers and users
to the system easy. In situations
where you have to set up a
number of users for FollowMe
Printing, the Q-Server software
provides several shortcut methods
that enable multiple users to be
added and configured at the same
time with the same settings.
Import a list of users from the
Microsoft domain and apply user
configurations to the list as
required.

To activate the individual ID
cards (which contain unique
“hidden” numbers) and assign
them to their respective users,
click on a ”listen” function within
the Q-Server software interface
and position the card in front of
the ID card reader. The system
automatically enters each card’s
number into the FollowMe Printing
system.