Integrating Universal Print with Pharos Beacon

Secure your printers and document output workflows in a Microsoft Azure environment by integrating Universal Print with Pharos Beacon. No more print servers to deploy and manage!

Demo: Pharos Beacon and Universal Print

Pharos Beacon integrating Universal Print (Preview)

This video shows how easy it is to integrate our cloud services with Universal Print to create a simple, serverless secure printing environment. Pharos customers who are considering Universal Print as part of their Microsoft 365 service can contact us any time for assistance and support with their integration.

Secure Printing for Your Azure Environment

Universal Print is now part of Microsoft 365, helping to simplify office printing for IT managers and employees. Universal Print leverages the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) and Azure Active Directory to make it easy for administrators to manage employee access to printers and enable direct printing workflows without requiring any print servers.

Microsoft Azure

Cloud print management is radidly growing in adoption because it makes office printing simple, secure, and easy to manage. It also enables IT managers to decommission expensive print servers in favor of subscription-based services.

Universal Print is now available for businesses, and Pharos is proud to be a Microsoft solution partner. We continue to work with Microsoft to further align our technologies and ensure a simple and flexible user experience.

~ Universal Print FAQ ~

Q: I'm already a Pharos customer. Do I need to change anything?
A: We get this question a lot. You don't need to change a thing. Universal Print is simply an option that organizations can use to integrate their Pharos solution with Azure AD, to secure printers for authorized use and protect document confidentiality.
Q: What printers work with Universal Print?
A: Printer manufacturers are coming out with new printers that natively support Universal Print. For existing printers that do not have the required firmware, Microsoft provides a connector, a small Windows application that connects printers to the Microsoft 365 cloud.
Q: Do I need a print driver?
A: IT managers have been happy to hear that no third-party print drivers are necessary. :)
Q: Will your integration support a mixed-OS environment?
A: Yes, multi-vendor solutions are what we do best. Pharos Beacon supports Windows, Mac, iOS, Chrome OS, Android, and Linux. Currently, Microsoft Universal Print supports Windows. Together, we've got you covered.
Q: What versions of Windows are supported?
A: The integration supports Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise 1903 or later.
Q: Do I need a Microsoft account?
A: To run Microsoft Universal print, you will need a Microsoft 365 account connected to Azure AD. The Beacon integration leverages that same Microsoft account.
Q: How does Universal Print integrate with Pharos Beacon to enable secure printing workflows?
A: Beacon creates a single virtual printer inside Universal Print. All users print to that single shared printer object. It’s super simple.

The user then walks up to any enabled printer in the organization. After the individual authenticates (via proximity card, mobile release, or keypad login), Beacon pulls all of the print jobs held by Universal Print and all print jobs held by Beacon. The individual’s job list from both sources is presented on the device panel for print release. Documents are then printed from Universal Print and/or Beacon.
Q: Why would I use both Beacon and Microsoft Universal Print?
A: If your organization is using Microsoft 365 in an Azure AD environment, Microsoft Universal Print provides an easy way to manage printers via group policy. Pharos Beacon provides several extra capabilities on top of Microsoft Universal Print:

  • Secure printing, including end-to-end encryption

  • A single queue that users can print to, and then release anywhere

  • Mobile printing capability using iOS or Android devices

  • Actionable print analytics to help drive continual savings and optimization

  • Identity management and federated authentication

  • Support for proximity cards, email authentication, and mobile app release


Q: What credentials are needed to integrate with Microsoft Universal Print?
A: In addition to your Pharos Beacon account, you’ll need a Microsoft 365 account with Azure AD.

Easily enable secure printing workflows on any office printer

Our solutions support mixed environments that consist of printers from multiple manufacturers and their various device models. So, no matter which printers your organization uses, we've got you covered.

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Together, let's make print the way it should be for your organization: secure, efficient, user-friendly and sustainable.

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