Printer software to help cut costs

Software which could help companies cut costs on printing has been developed by leading printer manufacturer Xerox.

The Xerox Print Advisor, which accompanies its ColorQube 9200 printer range, compiles reports on printing activity when it is installed on a company's network, allowing IT teams to track costs.

The information is monitored on a local network and tracks the use of printers of all makes and models.

But the real innovation comes with a pop-up dialogue box which suggests different options to the user, offering them alternatives which would use less paper and/or ink in the process.

If a user asked for several pages of material to be printed, the prompt can ask them whether they want to print it on both sides of the same piece of paper instead.

An advanced version allowing monitoring of people's individual printing usage as well as an overview of a company's output is expected to be ready by autumn.

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