From BlackBerry in U.S., give print in India

Bangalore: The nine member team in Hewlett-Packard (HP) Labs, Bangalore, has been in the limelight by developing a new printing technology. Christened CloudPrint, this technology will enable users to print from a BlackBerry by using any printer. "Our team from Bangalore made this technology possible," said Sridhar Solur, Principal, Office of Imaging and Printing Group-Chief Technology Officer, HP. Solur was addressing the media from London via telepresence and by using CloudPrint he could print a document in Bangalore through his BlackBerry.

The team in Bangalore was led by PV Venkatachalam (Venkee), Director, Global Delivery Application Services, HP-India cluster. The other members in the team were Atul, Ranjeetha, Asif, Rahul, Harish Kamath, Shiva, Ranga and Srihari. "It was exciting to work on this innovative technology and it took us 4-5 months to develop it," said Venkee.

Sometimes when your business travel takes you to some picturesque destination, you would like your family back home to also relish the sights. By using CloudPrint, once you have taken a picture in your BlackBerry, you can print the picture in a printer at your home. CloudPrint is a web services based solution that allows users to print emails, documents, photo and web pages using your smartphone. The service doesn't require a driver to initiate printing, but only an internet access. It comes as a relief to many, who were not allowed to use their USB flash drives in hotels and other establishments, because it may have viruses.

CloudPrint is still in its pilot stage, with currently only a few BlackBerry phones within HP capable of using the technology. "The technology will be available to other customers by another two quarters," Solur said. CloudPrint was launched by HP a few weeks back at the Wireless Enterprise Symposium in the U.S., as part of a new alliance between HP and Research in Motion (RIM).

Initially this technology would be implemented in enterprises, where only the employees can make use of the service. "Our goal is to enable even the small cybercafes to make use of this technology in the future and create a new marketplace for printing," adds Solur. This new technology has not only revolutionized printing, but also shown the prowess of India in the Research and Development space.