PCounter - Biometric Scanners

[Chriss31]

Hi all,

 

We're looking to implement a print management/quota system and thus far I've looked at PCounter and Papercut. My question is this:

 

Has anyone successfully integrated the PCounter solution into their school network using biometric devices installed on MFD's?

 

Looking at costs, Papercut is far cheaper overall but I'm not as impressed with their follow-me/pull printing solutions. In terms of accessibility a biometric scanner is the simplest of all authentication options offered, but I'm not convinced it's reliable enough to warrant the much higher costs that PCounter charge.

 

Many thanks,

 

Chriss

[oxide54]

not biometric, but mifare cards

[Ric_]

I've got a Konica Minolta Bizhub C220 running PCounter embedded which gives AD auth... not as convenient as a finger/card but it requires no extra hardware.

[Exos]

Toshiba MFD's integrate with PCounter utilising their biometrics really well, so much so that they have done some significant development work in that area, hence I am in the process of drawing this solution up for a few schools. Edited March 21, 2011 by Exos

[Chriss31]

Thank you for your replies.

 

Exos, in terms of the biometric readers themselves, do they work well as a method of authentication? Are they accurate and reliable?

[Exos]

Depends on the context in which you refer to as authentication, if your talking within an AD envirnoment as a login device, then i guess it is entirely dependent on what you go for and cost plays a big factor, but i've not really used them in this way.

 

Taking your original premise into consideration, then certainly for biometric printing and casheless catering they are pretty accurate once in place, although not without some contention. From experience systems can take a few weeks to bed in and students may have to get rescanned a number of times. There are occasions when they are also mistakenly identified, but it's quite rare.

[Chriss31]

Thank you. It was the accuracy and reliability of the scanners themselves that I was unsure of.

[Big_Ted]

I've been involved with a few successful PaperCut MF and Biostore integrations using RICOH MFDs with finger print recognition which worked very well.

[plexer]

If you go for biometrics get something that is biostore integrated as that's the no 1 biometric system in use.

 

Ben

[Chriss31]

I've been involved with a few successful PaperCut MF and Biostore integrations using RICOH MFDs with finger print recognition which worked very well.

 

You mean to say Papercut were able to offer you the option to go with biometric devices?

[Big_Ted]

Hi Chriss31,

More we have setup systems that allow users to logon to a copier for print/copy jobs using biometrics - using PaperCut as the backend (doing all the leg work and looking after printing and copying). These are used on a daily basis.

 

Biometrics is tricky; for starters there are no set standards so generally anyone offering a biometric system for print/copy management tends to go with just one biometric supplier (makes life easier). Unfortunately if you already have biometrics in place (for example door access / cashless catering) and didn’t pick the system the print management solution works with it will cost you a lot of money / time to swap over.

 

We know a few sites using Biostore. Biostore can do a few things 1. It can be the database / server / hardware or 2. As the name suggests it can act as a store and allow other biometric software to interact with it.

 

So far Biostore is the first name that anyone mentions to us when they start talking to us about biometrics.

 

Biometrics seems to work well, only downsides are 1. Not all parents wish to have their children on the system 2. It’s not cheap.

hope that helps.

Edited April 4, 2011 by Big_Ted

[Chriss31]

Hi Chriss31,

More we have setup systems that allow users to logon to a copier for print/copy jobs using biometrics - using PaperCut as the backend (doing all the leg work and looking after printing and copying). These are used on a daily basis.

 

Biometrics is tricky; for starters there are no set standards so generally anyone offering a biometric system for print/copy management tends to go with just one biometric supplier (makes life easier). Unfortunately if you already have biometrics in place (for example door access / cashless catering) and didn’t pick the system the print management solution works with it will cost you a lot of money / time to swap over.

 

We know a few sites using Biostore. Biostore can do a few things 1. It can be the database / server / hardware or 2. As the name suggests it can act as a store and allow other biometric software to interact with it.

 

So far Biostore is the first name that anyone mentions to us when they start talking to us about biometrics.

 

Biometrics seems to work well, only downsides are 1. Not all parents wish to have their children on the system 2. It’s not cheap.

hope that helps.

 

Thanks Big_Ted. In all probability we'll play it safe and not go with biometrics, simply to save us 1,250 parents arguing we're planning to steal their childrens identities.

[David_PCN]

The Pcounter Biostore terminal can use the fingerprint from the child/staff member or a card giving you the option where parents are unsure. This all then ties into the Biostore databases, so is shared with door access, cashless catering and any other solution also linked.

 

We have other options, including our own development if you only need print and copy though!

[MatthewL]

Sorry to bump an old topic but I have a Sharp and Biostore with Papercut and I have an issue with that the biometric reader will not connect with the MFD.

 

I get error report, unable to initialise. It is like it cannot talk to the printer.

 

Anyone shed any light on this as we are getting no where fast.

[Big_Ted]

Hi Matt,

 

I would contact Biostore it does not sound like a PaperCut error message.

Can you put up a screen grab of the error?

[MatthewL]

Hi Big_Ted,

 

We have and waiting for them to get back to us. There is no online support and as its newish there isn't much out there on the net. My colleague is waiting for a reply and I am not back in till next week to get the error message but its what I posted above on the fingerprint terminal.