MJ Flood has completed a €300,000 campus-wide printing and imaging refresh for Athlone Institute of Technology using the latest Konica Minolta devices.
The infrastructure refresh enables the institute’s IT department to standardise the reprographics environment and ensure that every staff member can access exceptional printing and imaging capabilities within 20 seconds.
Competitive click per copy rates, which encompass consumables, spare parts and support, negate the need for capital expenditure.
“Our printing and imaging environment is a critical piece of infrastructure and aligns itself extremely well with our overall IT strategy at the institute,” explains Peter McAleer, IT manager, Athlone Institute of Technology.
“It delivers control and predictability for future IT planning. It has also significantly reduced the workload on the IT department, cutting the number of help-desk calls by approximately 20pc. Like most organisations, IT budgets are under pressure and this allows us to deliver more with less and concentrate valuable resources on projects which are more strategic in nature,” he adds.
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MJ Flood deployed 33 colour and mono Konica Minolta multifunction devices throughout the campus. Each device provides the ultimate in multi-functionality with printing, copying and scanning on demand. Konica’s Simitri HD polymerised toner achieves an image quality second to none, with razor-sharp text and lines, colours that don’t fade, and a smooth and highly durable print finish, ensuring longer-lasting prints.
“Follow Me” print ensures that academic staff can call off any print job from any device on campus, boosting flexibility and productivity. “When staff want to access a device, they simply swipe their card or enter their network username and password,” explains Maresa Kelly, senior technical officer at AIT.
“Authentication back to our Active Directory grants universal access to all staff without tying them to particular machines.”
Powerful reporting software based on the YSoft technology platform was integrated onto the Konica Minolta device panel.
“YSoft gives the institute full visibility on print volumes and device usage,” according to Feilim O’Heinigh, senior technical consultant at MJ Flood. “Staff can now see who is printing, what, when and where. While the institute doesn’t currently use a departmental cross-charge model, it does have the capability to introduce it in the future,” he adds.
MJ Flood has a strong footprint in the education sector and has completed a number of high-profile printing and imaging projects for customers, such as Letterkenny Institute of Technology and Dublin Business School.
Photo: Left to right, Feilim O’Heinigh, senior technical consultant, MJ Flood; Peter McAleer, IT manager, Athlone Institute of Technology; and Maresa Kelly, senior technical officer, AIT.
