[147] in Enterprise Print Delivery Team
Enterprise Printing Delivery, Meeting Notes, 3/23/2000
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Mary Ellen Bushnell)
Fri Mar 24 13:35:25 2000
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Message-Id: <v04020a0db5003cb9e851@[18.152.1.45]>
Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2000 13:35:18 -0500
To: printdel@MIT.EDU
From: Mary Ellen Bushnell <bushnell@MIT.EDU>
Attending: Dave, Mike, Rocklyn, Mary Ellen
BUY VS.BUILD DISCUSSION
The trend is toward Buy vs. Build for the following reasons:
1. John Curry is in favor of commercial solutions
2. Susan Minai-Azary does not look favorably on a build-your-own solution.
3. IS developer resources are scarce. Our competencies should be dedicated
to MIT's core business - education and research - and not administrative
systems.
So it appears that we should go with a commercial solution that we can
kerberize and for which we can obtain source code. IBM has indicated
willingness to give us IPM source code and collaborate on kerberizing IPM.
We are not, at this time, looking for a solution that will also manage SAP
desktop printing, though we are hoping for improvements to be made in SAP
networked/distributed printing.
http://web.mit.edu/is/discovery/enterprint/. For now we will put the Buy
vs. Build issue to one side and not do a cost analysis of that option.
TESTING
1. We need to test more than one product. Mike suggested testing Xerox's
print management system for Unix, as Xerox printers are currently the most
robust work-group printers.
ACTION ITEM: Dave, set this up w/Xerox reps.
2. Phil Muolo (IBM) wants to lend us an IP40, a postscript printer that
churns out 40ppm. Mike would pass it on to Camilla Fox (student employee
working on Athena printers)
ACTION ITEM: Mike, Rocklyn, continue to test IPM. Who's arranging
the loan of an IP40 with Phil Muolo?
Dave's meeting with Susan MA, Bob, Greg - debriefing.
1. Susan was concerned that we are limiting ourselves by choosing a
solution to manage 2 worlds when one of those worlds is on the way out. But
IPM is the best product regardless - the best in a postscript, network
attached, AFP world.
2. The channel-attached issue. The 3827 is too big (and expensive) for
today's needs, except once/month. One solution is to get rid of the GL
statements altogether. The CAO is attempting to wean reluctant users from
the printed statements and pointing them to the information on the web.
3. How to handle the impact printers. See if IPM can work with a network
attached impact printer.
ACTION ITEM: Rocklyn, Mike: do it.
4. Roles. Can we import authorization from the Roles database into IPM?
API's are available
5. Follow up on IBM's interest in Kerberizing IPM. The first step: define
the Kerberos environment so IBM can give an estimate on their work to
integrate Kerb 5 in AIX.
ACTION ITEM: Rocklyn, Mike - talk to Paul Hill, Jeff S, Ken
Raeburn, Tom Yu.
