I was talking with a colleague this week about IPDS. He shared his opinion that IPDS was the most reliable printing protocol around. The reasons he gave include:
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IPDS is an end-to-end protocol
With IPDS the printing application on the iSeries knows the status of the printer, and that it has successfully printed pages 1 through 17 but needs attention for page 18. Assuming that someone comes along to fix the problem (clear the paper jam, replace stock, etc.) the user can be assured that all the pages that were supposed to print do, in fact, print.
This makes it challenging for those of us who work in the Windows printing industry to get printer status in a timely manner. We at Brooks are currently working on that issue.
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IPDS is backward compatible
You can continue to use your older printers with IPDS and get the functionality you expect. You can also use a newer printer, and get increased finishing functions; yet your old printers are never obsoleted, so long as they continue to run.
We are continuing to invest in IPDS; nonetheless, this conversation opened my eyes to possibilities I had not yet considered, and confirmed that a few of my existing ideas had merit.
I hope you have an opportunity to check out our latest offering, ExcelliPrint® 4.0, and that you'll share your feedback with us.