Hewlett-Packard Co is expanding the reach of its HP JetAdmin printer management software to enable not only HP printers, but other vendors’ printers and a wide range of other office peripherals to be managed by network administrators from a central console with a single tool. HP Web JetAdmin 3.0 supports any printer that is either standard printer-MIB compliant, has embedded web content or is connected to the network via an HP JetDirect print server. In the current release, the product also supports two HP peripherals, the HP Network ScanJet 5 scanner, and the HP CD-ROM server, a network-attached CD-ROM tower launched in September, which takes up to seven CD-ROMS, and enables multiple users on a network to access the CD-ROM stack. Hewlett-Packard says its goal is to help reduce the fabled ‘total cost of ownership’ by enabling centralized control of all network peripherals. Future releases will support other manufacturers’ scanners, network-attached storage and other peripherals. The current HP JetAdmin is fully integrated into Computer Associates International Inc’s Unicenter systems management software as well as HP’s OpenView Professional Suite. Once these are both web- based, the company says HP Web JetAdmin 3.0 will also be fully integrated, so that it can be launched from within either product. The Web JetAdmin interface looks like a standard web browser, and supports both Netscape Communications Corp and Microsoft Corp browsers. HP claims it is the first to offer such broad support for multi-vendors’ printers and peripherals. HP Web JetAdmin 3.0 for HP-UX, Sun Solaris, OS/2 Warp and Windows NT is available now from http://www.hp.com/go/webjetadmin.
