The world's biggest rollout of Novell iPrint

With the rollout of the Novell iPrint software at BASF AG, BASF IT Services has completed the world's most comprehensive installation of this printing solution, on 30,000 PCs and 9,000 printers

With the rollout of the Novell iPrint software at BASF AG, BASF IT Services has successfully completed the world's most comprehensive installation of this printing solution.

Work in Ludwigshafen and print a document out on a colleague's printer in Antwerp? All the BASF employees in Ludwigshafen and Schwarzheide - and their colleagues in Belgium - can now easily and simply access each of the around 9,000 printers available at these facilities.

Users of just over 30,000 PCs profit from this new solution.

The only prerequisite for using this, the world's biggest iPrint printer environment, is a web browser that shows what printers are available.

The user chooses the printer he wants via the address displayed in the browser; the pre-configured printer driver is then automatically downloaded and installed.

The installation project took 15 months in total and formed part of the introduction of a so-called Full Service Printing (FSP) solution at BASF.

This project modernised and standardised the printer portfolio, while service and procurement processes were simultaneously simplified.

As an example of the latter, those employees with Full Service Printing automatically receive new toner as needed.

The BASF IT Services project team equipped up to 100 printers a day with the new software.

As well as the scope of the rollout, the second big challenge was to organize the transition from a heterogeneous printer environment, that had grown up over the course of the years, to a standardised environment such that on-going operation did not need to be interrupted.

In order to allow the employees to continue working without disruption, on the same day a new unit was set up, also iPrint had to be available.

In the run-up to the switchover, the team had therefore equipped all of the PCs with a software distribution tool, prepared the Internet Protocol (IP) configuration and built up an infrastructure of about 20 servers for administration of the print jobs.

These are located in the BASF IT Services data centre in Ludwigshafen and are operated by the specialists there.

Display of the printers available in the Intranet is done by means of a building information system.

No matter where the employee is - anywhere at the Ludwigshafen site, in Antwerp, at home or on a business trip - he can now access the entire set of printing resources in the company via his web browser, choose the printer most suitable for his needs and use it as he wishes.

"It's important that processes run smoothly and that all the work steps are exactly matched to each other, particularly when you're bringing in new software solutions.

BASF IT Services has again proved to be a reliable and flexible partner that can, due to its breadth of experience, handle projects of any size," says Martin Unger, Project Manager at BASF AG.

"Novell is very happy to deliver the printing solution for such a large implementation in a worldwide company like BASF AG.

Novell iPrint on Open Enterprise Server provides global access to printers, customisable views of any print environment, flexible print deployment configurations and secure printing.

The in-depth know-how and structured approach of BASF IT Services in combination with the Novell technology made this joint project for BASF highly successful," says Tom Francese, President Novell EMEA.

The new solution means that documents that have to be printed no longer need to be sent by fax or e-mail.

Moreover, whereas earlier a technician or serviceperson had to install the printer, the user himself can now do so quickly and easily, without specific knowledge or administrator privileges.

"We're happy to be able to support our customers in simplifying and speeding up work procedures.

As well as an increase in mobility for the employee and improved security, the new print solution means considerable cost savings for our customer BASF," reports Wolfgang Erny, Managing Director of BASF IT Services.

Back to top