DesignJet Grid Computing-Optimizing Corporate Resources for Digital Publishing

摘要

The usage of cluster printing capabilities is not as widely spread today in corporate environments as it could be. Printing remains for most places a single-device task, even when multiprocessor systems and inter-network protocols are evolving to integrate in other fields, e.g., ad-hoc networking, self-configuration protocols, and peer-to-peer transfers. Printers do not yet benefit from the potential advantages of having a high-level of inter-device collaboration. In essence, the main reason is that a higher level of attention and control from the user is usually required; making distributed printing processes a complex task. But, what if our printing devices would become more autonomous? They could take by themselves some of the underlying decisions that are required for devices to work together liberating the user from this decision-taking process. How to effectively balance all of these requirements to maximize cost-effectiveness of our daily work? Hewlett-Packard is investigating these possibilities with large format printers by using Grid computing technology. Large format printers are powerful devices with high-bandwidth for data transmission and processing, and that many times lay idle. This technology makes large format printers become a proactive powerful component in printing workflows, e.g., when adding a new printer, the overall bandwidth increases in a balanced manner; the grid is as easy to use as having just one printer - see Figure 1 to illustrate it. However, there are limitations in the suitability of Grid technology for printing; communication overhead can be an issue as for large-format-printers generally deal with large volumes of printable data. This paper does an analysis on the conditions in which printing in a grid makes sense.