Equitrac - Printing

[cismconn]

not sure about the 10 mfps/ unlimited as you describe it Marco. we certainly have ordered it a different way over the last 2-3 years.

 

we have Equitrac Express (the "lighter" version presume you are referring to) and have happily added licenses as and when required for things like 10 additional MFPS for our particular manufacturer (ricoh).

 

equally could have been canon, sharp or whatever.

 

also as and when we have added:-

 

more Windows print servers

more printers (100 per server license, totalled up)

clustering support

release stations for plotters

 

Matthew, best to work out what you want... just install single equitrac server & print queues to test?

 

or look at other solutions if cheaper or fit better... Pharos, GPAS, PCounter etc... all pretty similar.

Edited July 1, 2010 by cismconn

[David_PCN]

A bit of information about Pcounter:

 

Pcounter is licensed on a per server basis - Unlimited Users and devices.

It also includes departmental accounting as part of the core license so no hidden costs!

 

For copier control it's can embed onto Sharp, Xerox, HP, Konica Minolta, Ricoh, Kyocera, Toshiba and plans for OCE and Ollivetti.

Alternatively it can use an external copy controller with Mifare + Magstripe as standard for any device.

 

It's now also got Biometric support on some solutions!

 

If you are considering Equitrac and think it's a high cost, then compare the functionality and costs - you should get a pleasant surprise!

 

FYI: GPAS is no longer sold to new sites.

[mac_shinobi]

A bit of information about Pcounter:

 

Pcounter is licensed on a per server basis - Unlimited Users and devices.

It also includes departmental accounting as part of the core license so no hidden costs!

 

For copier control it's can embed onto Sharp, Xerox, HP, Konica Minolta, Ricoh, Kyocera, Toshiba and plans for OCE and Ollivetti.

Alternatively it can use an external copy controller with Mifare + Magstripe as standard for any device.

 

It's now also got Biometric support on some solutions!

 

If you are considering Equitrac and think it's a high cost, then compare the functionality and costs - you should get a pleasant surprise!

 

FYI: GPAS is no longer sold to new sites.

 

correct me if I am wrong but from what I can gather Ricoh have done testing with pcounter and there copiers etc and afaik do not support it because it is such a pita to get working with Ricoh devices - on the other hand although more expensive equitrac just works, yes it does have problems from time to time but they are resolvable by equitrac trained engineers

[David_PCN]

It's not difficult to configure, most important is the firmware but with the newer devices much simpler. If you'd like to quote model numbers I can confirm support.

 

Copier manufacturers do tend to veer towards one of the software solutions for various reasons, some veer towards Pcounter with their comments and testing also, others to alternative solutions as noted above.

[TheCrust]

... on the other hand although more expensive equitrac just works, yes it does have problems from time to time but they are resolvable by equitrac trained engineers

 

 

Not in our experience. We've had a managed Ricoh / Equitrac Express 3 solution for the last four years. While initially it was fine, over the last academic year it's got increasingly unstable and the perception we have is that Ricoh appear to be more interested in invoicing and less in actually supporting us and sorting the issues out.

 

While I don't doubt Equitrac is a fine solution, from our current position it's looking a bit jaded - possibly this is as a result of Ricoh's lack of support for it and us I admit but as a consequence we're considering moving away when the contract is up in February next year.

[mac_shinobi]

Not in our experience. We've had a managed Ricoh / Equitrac Express 3 solution for the last four years. While initially it was fine, over the last academic year it's got increasingly unstable and the perception we have is that Ricoh appear to be more interested in invoicing and less in actually supporting us and sorting the issues out.

 

While I don't doubt Equitrac is a fine solution, from our current position it's looking a bit jaded - possibly this is as a result of Ricoh's lack of support for it and us I admit but as a consequence we're considering moving away when the contract is up in February next year.

 

Will drop you a pm with my work contact details and possible options - if you can send me a pm with all info when you are at work reference

 

model of copiers, serial numbers of copiers, equitrac type ie office, express or professional ( I am guessing it will be express ) as this is what is generally used in educational enviroments. Along with the exact issues and whats happened / happening and I will try and see if we can get someone out - although I think the normal process is to call the call centre and log a call requesting an equitrac trained engineer to come out and go through all the issues with yourself and sort them out.

 

 

It's not difficult to configure, most important is the firmware but with the newer devices much simpler. If you'd like to quote model numbers I can confirm support.

 

Copier manufacturers do tend to veer towards one of the software solutions for various reasons, some veer towards Pcounter with their comments and testing also, others to alternative solutions as noted above.

 

When ever I have logged calls to level 2 for various models of copiers reference p counter and asked around engineers who have attended on site to these sorts of calls ( Could just be down to bad experiences on a few occasions or something ) but they just literally upgrade the copiers firmware and do everything that is required for pcounter and have had no end of head aches / issues getting pcounter to work to start with - you seem to know a lot more about it - with regards to equitrac I log a reasonable amount of calls to level 2 for these which gets resolved as far as I am aware because I have never had the same user call me back and then found out that the call was closed down without being resolved.

 

Maybe pcounter is totally different now but when I used it back in 2005 ( just software side of it ) in comparison to say paper cut ( paid version ) I found and preffered paper cut, am not sure if paper cut supports ricoh devices or all the details etc as

 

1. I dont have or use a Ricoh copier at home nor do I have the time to use / setup / configure the different options at work for them ref pcounter, equitrac , paper cut etc

 

Am not putting pcounter down as I have not had any recent experiences of it reference

 

1. installing / setting it up / configuring it

2. experience of actually using it currently

 

It would however be really good if there was a few youtube videos or videos somewhere that went through common trouble shooting / installation / setup issues as well as how to use it etc