Software can send print jobs via Net

Adobe Systems will take the wraps off
new software early next month that will let users send print jobs to remote
printers over the Internet.

Although the company would not divulge details about its product plans, the
client-server software
product will be aimed initially at corporate users who want to leverage
their intranets to print jobs from remote locations, according to
Russ Fujioka, Adobe's director of market development.

"We will announce a product that will address fixing some problems that are
interesting to Internet and intranet, such as how do you give [users] the
ability to locate, access, and control printers and print jobs," Fujioka said.

For example, a salesperson on the road could connect to the Net and print a
sales report to his customer's printer. Eventually, users would also be able
to send print jobs ahead to service bureaus like Kinko's so
that they can simply pick up completed print jobs instead of having to "sneaker-net" floppy disks to the print shop.

"If you could do everything from your desk and have [print jobs] meet you
somewhere that would be nice," Fujioka said.

Unlike existing remote printing tools, the Adobe product, which will be
available by the end of the year, will not be printer- or platform-specific
and will work in conjunction with existing Internet technologies such as Web
browsers.
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