KMPM provides sophisticated real-time fault recognition and monitoring facilities to remotely manage each printer.
KMPM's graphic control panel allows simplified configuration of printer settings while providing audio alarms and visual error messages to quickly alert network administrators to a printer problem.
KMPM operates via the IEEE 1284 compliant bi-directional parallel port and optional serial port on all PCL 5e printers or via SNMP EcoLINK direct-connect network interfaces.
To cater for non-SNMP printers from other manufacturers KMPM can also operate under PJL a printer-specific protocol attached to the PCL 5e printer emulation. It is therefore possible to manage not only ECOSYS printers but also non-SNMP-compliant models from other manufacturers - invaluable to an organisation which requires different printers or different applications, for example mono and colour.
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| SNMP - Simple Network Management Protocol
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SNMP stands for Simple Network Management Protocol, and was created by a group comprising the Network Printing Alliance (NPA), Desktop Management Task Force (DMTF) and Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).
It enables communication between different types of network and allow different types and brands of network peripheral to be managed by a single piece of network management software.
Under SNMP a network administrator is able to send and receive messages to and from all peripheral devices on his network without leaving his workstation.
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| How does the communication via SNMP work ?
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Each device on the network has its own Management Information Base or MIB, which contains details of device-specific functionality. The MIB resides in the firmware of the device but must also be mirrored in the host management system, by importing a corresponding database file into the overall network management database.
The printer MIB was developed by printer manufacturers working together and was standardised on 29th May 1995. Any printer with the printer MIB resident in its firmware can therefore managed by any network management software which employs SNMP.
SNMP is the command set that makes communication with the MIB possible. SNMP itself is transported across the network in traditional packets using standard network protocols.
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| What are the benefits of SNMP ?
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| Many organisation are now moving towards an "open systems" environment. SNMP is independent of operating system or hardware type and effectively bridges the gaps between them, to provide enhanced compatibility.
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