Cloud Print

Print devices have a different relationship with the cloud than computers. That’s why cloud print management & print enablement requires flexible and scalable solutions. From self-hosted to hosted for you, PaperCut has a suite of cloud print solutions for enabling and managing print with the cloud.

Cloud Printing 101

Print management was once a tale as old as time. Secure and quick printing was traditionally facilitated by an on-prem print server - one of many pieces of hardware that formed your business infrastructure. Then the cloud came along, and business infrastructure changed forever. You no longer needed servers on-site, or even applications on your devices.

Printing has been a trickier space to enhance with cloud computing. In the world of cloud print, there’s always going to be an element of on-premise infrastructure - the printer/MFD.

Cloud Print Management isn’t about replacing on-prem infrastructure. It’s about enhancing the print management space by utilizing cloud and Internet of Things technologies.

Cloud printing vs cloud print management

You might be asking yourself, what is cloud printing? Or what is cloud print management? Is there a difference between cloud printing and cloud print management?

These types of cloud print solutions may sound similar, but depending on what problem you’re hoping to solve, there’s a crucial distinction. Cloud printing is a matter of enabling printing with the cloud, cloud print management is a matter of controlling printing.

Cloud printing facilitates remote printing over the internet.

Cloud print management tracks and coordinates printing with the cloud, rather than with on-premise infrastructure.

There are cloud print solutions for each, and some cloud print management software also offers cloud printing. But before choosing your cloud print solution, it’s important to know what you’re trying to achieve with your printing and the cloud.

Print enablement gets your users printing quickly and securely.

Print management offers visibility and insight into your organization’s printing.

Whether you’re a startup looking to make printing as easy as possible, or a school district grappling with crafting a secure and responsible printing culture, there is a cloud print solution for you.

Understanding cloud computing basics

Cloud is a common term when discussing today’s working environments, but it’s a term that has lots of nuts and bolts.

So you can understand everything in this section, let’s brush up on some basic cloud computing concepts, through the lens of print.

Public, private, and hybrid cloud

There are three types of cloud hosting.

Public cloud	Private cloud	Hybrid cloud
Computing resources fully-hosted in the cloud, accessed over the internet along with other users from other companies	Self-hosted, dedicated computing resources for a single organization	A combination of public and private cloud

Read more about public, private, and hybrid cloud in our blog.

Single vs multi-tenant cloud applications

Related to public, private, and hybrid, a single-tenant or multi-tenant refers to whether a cloud application - a set of cloud resources referred to as an instance - is shared with one or multiple customers.

Single-tenant	Multi-tenant
One instance (cloud application) per customer The cloud can be self-hosted or private-hosted Often referred to as “private hosted” or “Hosted in private cloud”	Multiple customers share an instance (a cloud application) Uses the public cloud Typically fully-hosted SaaS solutions

Read more about single-tenancy and multi-tenancy in our blog.

Anything as a Service (XaaS) and the cloud

Did we lose you at SaaS?

That’s one of the three types of services offered in the cloud. It stands for Software as a Service and refers to software, applications, and solutions accessed via the cloud, for example Microsoft Office 365 and Google Workspace.

In regards to cloud print management, SaaS is usually the only XaaS term you’ll come across.

PaperCut’s cloud print management portfolio

PaperCut’s cloud print management portfolio is about choice. You have the ability to choose a cloud print solution that’s appropriate for your printing requirements around simplicity, management, security, and privacy.

An easy way to think about cloud print management options is to split them into two main categories.

Self-hosted cloud print management	Fully-hosted (hosted for you) cloud print management
Also known as single-tenant (private-hosted) Perfectly suited for our flagship solution PaperCut MF Ideal for private cloud deployments Single-tenant cloud print solution You control the data and its location You control the update cycles	Also known as multi-tenant (public-hosted SaaS) Primarily served by our cloud-native products PaperCut Hive and PaperCut Pocket Purely designed for public cloud Multi-tenant SaaS cloud print solution Data and backup are managed for you Update cycles are managed for you

Cloud print in detail

Different people mean different things when they’re talking about cloud print management. Some might be searching for a self-hosted solution. Others may be looking for a fully-hosted cloud print solution.

To explore PaperCut’s full portfolio of cloud-based print management products, jump into the following subsections.