Celiveo has announced the 29th of July 2022 the general availability of Celiveo 365, a plug-in service adding advanced capabilities to Universal Print.
Universal Print is definitely a great evolution, it makes printing easier and compatible with the rise of virtual desktops such as Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktops. Microsoft has delivered an awesome technology that is shaking a very sleepy industry.
When we reviewed Universal Print we found out there is way to complement it by extending cyber-security to the documents, not just the transport, by adding easy management of large printer fleets, pull print with card readers support, tracking and reporting of all printers and MFP activity and so on. In a nutshell we thought it was necessary to provide the same print management features most companies are already using but with a very critical difference:
Print jobs leave the company network, they go on the public Internet and on the Cloud!
So we have been working for more than two years on Celiveo 365, starting with a by-the-book Zero-Trust-Access architecture that guarantees the complete security of the solution, then adding print management capabilities based on the feedback of some of our very large clients, those who today are managing more than 5000 printers and would really like to move to the Cloud.
Here are the main requests and how we have fulfilled them in Celiveo 365:
| Request | Why? | How we covered that in Celiveo 365 |
| Deep integration with Universal Print and Azure Active Directory | Reduce TCO, ease deployment and security | Celiveo 365 acts as a plugin to Universal Print, adding advanced capabilities. Printers and portal leverage all their access rights directly from AAD and use security groups. Celiveo web portal allows to create Universal Print pull print queues in a few click but with all features. |
| True Cloud solution, no PC/server/gateway (or whatever creative name marketing finds). | No point to move to the Cloud if that requires an on-premises PC/server/VM/service that needs to be installed on each site, then maintained, protected, backup, managed. | Celiveo is a company developing printer-embedded firmware since 1994, this is really our expertise. We have designed and developed embedded agent that run inside most common printer brands and speak directly to Universal Print and Azure, no intermediate PC needed. It is then possible to benefit from an Enterprise-class Print management with just the user’s PC, the printers, Universal Print and Celiveo 365. |
| High Security for our document and printers, security not based on login-password or secret keys | Moving to the Cloud means documents flow on the public Internet and in a third-party Cloud that can be anywhere in the world. Password and keys are easily copied and source of the largest hacks. |
First of all, we have banned login-passwords and security keys from Celiveo 365 to propose the only Cloud-compatible security: Zero-Trust Access based on chains of ECC P365 certificates. Those certificates allow TLS mutual authentication between any node: printer, Cloud, PC verify with who they connect even before any data is exchanged. Then the communication is analyzed by each node to detect oddities that indicate potential hack. Then we apply the strongest authorized AES encryption to print jobs received by Universal Print, using PKI technology and keys specific to each AAD user. |
| Feature High Availability | If the Internet access fails, end-users need to be able to authenticate on MFP to make copies, send faxes | High Availability is standard in Celiveo 365 as the user information, including the card number hash, is automatically in a secure cache inside the printers. Would the Internet access fail, users can still authenticate with granular access control applied, and their actions are tracked and will be reported to Azure when Internet is restored. |
| Provide service from multiple Azure regional Data centers. | There are two reasons for such requests: compliance with data protection laws, and performance | As of August 2022, Celiveo 365 is already available on US, EU and Singapore Azure data centers, with more locations to come in the near future. |
| Feature User Authentication on printers but not just for printing | Multi-function printers can also make copies, scan, fax. Security and cost control require access control that’s also used for pull print | Celiveo 365 adds multiple authentication technologies on printers to Universal Print: PIN code (4 to 10 digit), AlphaPIN (those codes used for airline bookings, 4 to 10 characters) and contactless cards (supporting all possible standards). Smartphones will follow soon. Authentication rules link access to color and MFP functions to AAD security groups to provide the best access control granularity. |
| Feature self-service card enrollment into Azure | End-users should be able to enroll their card easily but with the highest security | With Celiveo 365, end-users that show an unknown card on the printer or MFP card reader are prompted for their Microsoft 365 login and password on the printer screen, then upon valid identification they only need to show that card to authenticate for any printer feature, and on any printer across the organization, not just the one where they enrolled. |
| Feature Pull Print | Users may not want to print pages on the spot, but collect them when they have time | Celiveo 365 allows to create Pull Print queues in Universal Print, with just a few mouse clicks. They are directly available in Win 10 and Win 11 without having to install any client software. Documents can then be released upon authentication on printers. |
| Provide print rules linked to AAD security groups | Wise control of TCO requires to limit who can make what on printers and MFPs. | Thanks to its deep integration with AAD, Celiveo 365 knows who uses the printer or MFP, their security groups, their department and with a few mouse clicks the administrator can restrict access to color, to copy, email, scan, fax as needed and with full granularity. |
| Track and report on printer activity | Being able to bill-back to departments the cost of print, copy, scan, fax is key to good cost control. | Celiveo 365 tracks inside the printers all their activity, from the number of pages to the activity, color or black and white, toner saving mode, number of copies, duplex or simplex, user information and document names. Such data can be exported, on top of reports available on the Celiveo 365 portal. |
| User Friendly portal | Learning curve should be low | Celiveo 365 can automatically discover, add and manage tens of thousands of printers per account, yet it is so easy to use and feature data-mining interface, dynamic views, controlled delegation of administration with partial fleet view, floor maps to find printers with on-site photo etc. That portal handles the automatic addition of printers into Universal Print for Pull Print. |
| Mobile print | Print from anywhere using any device. It is Cloud, no? | Celiveo allows to print from Win 10, Win 11 but also from Chrome Enterprise Chromebooks (with Zero Trust Access security), iOS/Android tablets and smartphones for users on the road. |
| Home office printing | Well, since Covid many team members work from home a few days a week and need to use their home printers. | Celiveo 365 extends the office printing by including its smart home office printing solution secured with Microsoft SSO. It supports any AirPrint/IPP printer (99.6% of printers) through Wifi. |
The Celiveo 365 intelligent agent running inside the printer includes the whole intelligence to speak directly with Universal Print and Azure, as well as receiving print jobs with the highest security.
As of August 2022 it is already available for all the HP FutureSmart printers, generation FS3 to FS5.
The supports for other brands is already under way with Lexmark, Ricoh, Xerox and FujiFilm printers and MFPs being not far from release.
We have had request to support printers that can’t load intelligent agents, what is also called passive printers. We agree it is important for investment protection and have added an innovative feature. It will be released in September 2022 an its name is the Celiveo 365 Universal Printer Endpoint. It provides a very effective way to support virtually any printer in an organization, with user authentication at the printer, high availability, redundancy, monitoring and scalability, all that with ultimate Zero-Trust-Access security. We will speak more about that new feature in a few weeks.
To finish, here a video that summarize what Celiveo 365 brings to Universal Print, enjoy it and don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any question or request for advanced features!
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