Microsofts new 'Universal Print' option on 365

[JayPaul]

Hi all, I have been asked by potential new customer if 04s and IMC model machines will work with Microsofts new 'Universal Print' function, where by everything is cloud based and the customer can connect to their 365 account from home and print to any installed printer on their Azure AD.
Universal Print – Cloud Based Print Solution
That is the link to it if you want to know what I mean, I notice Ricoh is not one of the brands on their page.
Does anyone know if this will work on the Ricohs or not, I imagine it would but seeing as this is a fairly new thing from Microsoft I'm not sure if anyone has done it or seen it in action yet?
Customer wants me to provide some kind of evidence that it works by end of tomorrow or we could lose the deal. I appreciate most people probably haven't even heard of this yet but if you know somewhere that has it working, would be great.

[Mark Bbb]

Just set up printer with an fixed IP address and pcl6 driver.
The router will then introduce your Ricoh in every cloud you want.
I don't understand the advantage of this universal driver...

[JayPaul]

No this is nothing to do with using universal drivers, it just happens to use the same name. Microsoft released something this year that when people use cloud based solutions like 365, they have an Azure AD, you install the printers onto them, share it out in some overly complicated way that the IT guy does to each persons laptop in that company, so as long as they have an internet connection anywhere in the world they just login to their 365 account, then can print to any of the printers in that company that has been shared out on Azure. Because of coronavirus, a lot of people will start using this in the future to work from home rather than using terminal servers, remote desktop connections and VPNs.
They have a list of brands that are already compatible with this but Ricoh is not on there. Other brands will be releasing firmware updates to make their latest machines compatible with it too.

[bsm2]

Just set up printer with an fixed IP address and pcl6 driver.
The router will then introduce your Ricoh in every cloud you want.
I don't understand the advantage of this universal driver...

This makes NO sense router will then introduce your Ricoh in every cloud you want

Every connector printer is set this way YOUR Router only allows access to the internet NOTHING else.

Ricoh support cloud print with With the ICE Printer Package*

The question was does Ricoh have it built in as some copiers have it built into the device.

[B0265]

I only know what I have read so far, but I don't think there are any (or at least very few) printers that have built-in support for Universal Print right now.
What you need to do is to set up an Universal Print connector.
Universal Print - Get started | Microsoft Docs

I also know that YSoft have a hardware solution called OMNI Bridge.
YSoft OMNI Series | Universal Print

[slimslob]

I doubt if Microsoft engineers are going to go out and purchase or even rent every make and model printer in existence just to test them for function with 365 cloud printing. Most likely Ricoh is not on their "list" is because no user has installed one there. They want you to subscribe to 365 and install one. Ricoh is not gong to do that unless there is sufficient demand for it. Contact Ricoh sales support team or install one from your own office to test/demo.

[JayPaul]

I did offer to take a smaller machine there to test but IT guy does not have the time to set it all up for everyone just to test 1 machine, that may sound lazy but if you look at the 'how to' guide on installing print connectors and spreading packages out to laptops etc it does look pretty longwinded and complicated especially if he is focusing on already migrating an entire server.
Half the people at Ricoh I have spoken to have no idea what this is yet and everyone keeps mistaking it for 'Universal Drivers' which have been around forever and are technically nothing to do with it. I don't think i'm going to find an answer in time. I basically have about 20 hours left to find a needle in a hay stack... while doing my full time job.
One of the guys at Ricoh said it may go live in December but could involve SLNX which I guess is Stream Line NX, I have never used it or even seen it before though.

[SalesServiceGuy]

Microsoft's new Universal print is a Cloud based print driver spooled from a secure Azure server. This assumes the users also have a MS365 account.

Lexmark Universal Print—Overview - YouTube

It is very early and I do not see a compelling need for SMB customers to move to MS Universal print other than speed of install for the technician.

MS Universal print seems to appeal more to large corporations with many printers in many locations.

Usually print drivers are installed on a local PC or a local Print Server. With MS Universal print there are no print drivers to install locally.

Almost always, the OEM creates a more stable print driver than Microsoft.

I know with Toshiba copiers when via an automatic Win 10 update, Microsoft downloads and replaces the Toshiba original print driver with their V4 driver. This often causes print problems that requires a tech to come back and delete the V4 driver and reinstall the OEM print driver.

I would imagine that if a tech support issue arrives over printing from MS Universal Print, the customer cannot point the finger at your local copier/ printer vendor for a fix.

Introduction To Microsoft Universal Print - YouTube

I am not sure if Apple OSX users can take advantage of MS Universal print.

The customer mentioned at the start of this thread, if truly interested in MS Universal Print, is getting way ahead of the curve. This new MS product was only introduced in July 2020. Usually when you are at the leading edge of the curve you are also at the bleeding edge of the curve. They should wait a full six months before they commit to any move.

[mga]

Hi all, I have been asked by potential new customer if 04s and IMC model machines will work with Microsofts new 'Universal Print' function, where by everything is cloud based and the customer can connect to their 365 account from home and print to any installed printer on their Azure AD.
Universal Print – Cloud Based Print Solution
That is the link to it if you want to know what I mean, I notice Ricoh is not one of the brands on their page.
Does anyone know if this will work on the Ricohs or not, I imagine it would but seeing as this is a fairly new thing from Microsoft I'm not sure if anyone has done it or seen it in action yet?
Customer wants me to provide some kind of evidence that it works by end of tomorrow or we could lose the deal. I appreciate most people probably haven't even heard of this yet but if you know somewhere that has it working, would be great.

Hi Jay Paul I've noticed you ask the same on ricoh technical uk they should answer you there but give them a call first thing they are working

[JayPaul]

This particular customer is currently migrating all of it to 365 with the Azure AD. So installing it normally will only work for a while then he will be wiping all of the legacy stuff away and they will only print via Universal Print afterwards.
Like the Toshibas you mentioned that also happens to Ricoh, if you let an IT guy or someone who wants to half arse an install set up new printers they will let Windows 10 find ti and add it on it's own. This will not only put it on the dreaded WSD port but also gives it the Ricoh Class Driver which is also dreadful. To combat that problem I turn off WSD - Device, on the IPv4 settings of the WIM of any machine before I install it. Then download the correct PCL 6 driver and install via IP address or more reliably the Hostname which won't change.
In this instance if a problem occured with printing I would direct the customer straight to their IT who would hold 99% control over it as I wouldn't really be able to do anything other than check network connections etc

mga - Yep that's me on there, a lot of those guys are still furloughed so I wasn't really expecting an answer. I spoke to a Ricoh support team and they all said 'no it will not be compatible' then I spoke to a guy that has done software installs for us and him and another guy he knows that works with Azure and 365 also said no.
I don't think anyone wants to say yes it will work because if it doesn't they will be held accountable, same way I can't tell this customer everything will be fine because i'll get slaughtered if it doesn't work (so glad we don't have some of our ex sales guys that just say 'yeh it will be fine' to every question they get asked, then left me to come up with miracles on install day)