Epson Discproducer Network Security Disc Publisher

If you want to reliably print and burn CDs or DVDs while restricting network user access to your duplicator, then check out Epson's Discproducer Network Security Disc Publisher. Designed for secured Ethernet network access among multiple users, as well as unattended use, this Discproducer can burn and print labels on 30 CDs or 15 DVDs per hour. In so doing, it utilizes two CD/DVD drives, a built-in inkjet printer, a few different secure network-relevant features, and a variety of notable Epson-technologies.

While this Discproducer shares many of the same features as Epson's standard version, it has secure network-related additions that bear mentioning. This model offers shared network access between multiple users with Ethernet connectivity; however, that access can be restricted. For restricting access, you have the choice of two security modes, which you will need to setup and manage with the Total Disc Net Administrator Software.

In the first mode, you can authorize users on the network to send print or burn jobs to the Discproducer on their own. To actually obtain their published discs, users will need to punch their user number and pin into the USB keypad attached to the Discproducer. After, the user can obtain their discs from a disc tray that pops out from the Discproducer. In the second mode, users will need to send their publishing jobs to an authorized Administrator who can review and then approve the job to go through to the Discproducer. Once the job is approved, the user that initiated the job will need to go to the Discproducer and enter their user number and pin into the keypad, so as to obtain their discs. Both modes support the production of up to 50 discs. Additionally, the Epson Discproducer Network Security model is ISO 15408 certified ensuring the highest level of security for its users. It has an encrypted hard drive to further protect sensitive or confidential information as well as a lock for the disc cover so no one can open it and swipe discs.

Whether you or your users are operating within the security modes, you will have three different options for burning and printing discs, depending on the number of CDs or DVDs that you want to burn and label. Specifically, you can choose batch mode for larger production runs of up to 100 discs, standard mode for smaller production runs up to 50 discs, and external mode for up to 5 discs.

Beyond security and publishing modes, for printing, you can either go with speed mode or quality mode. In speed mode, you can print labels more quickly and up to a resolution of 1440 x 720 dpi. In quality mode, you can print at a resolution of up to 1440 x 1440 dpi, but the printer takes a little more time. Plus, if you only need to print on discs and not burn them, you can do so in either of these modes. If you're only printing, speed mode produces 60 discs per hour and quality mode produces 40 discs per hour.

For printing and burning discs in these various modes, the Discproducer relies on a few notable Epson technologies and design innovations. The exterior is compact, rugged, features a dust-proof body, and contains a minimum of moving parts. Among those moving parts is a robotic arm that employs Epson's AcuGrip technology. That is to say, once the arm is centered over a disc, three powered fingers separate any discs that are stuck together and ensure that only one disc is placed inside the printer or disc drives.

For printing, the Discproducer's inkjet printer uses MicroPiezo print heads for delivering uniform, stable ink droplets as well as six high-capacity, ink cartridges. Each cartridge contains a different color of ink and is connected to a sensor that will alert you when ink is low. While many other inkjet printers use only one black and one color cartridge, Epson's use of six different colors is meant to save you money. More specifically, with those other printers, if you deplete a given color, such as cyan in your color cartridge, you will unfortunately need to replace the entire cartridge. So, if you still want to print with that cyan color but have yellow and magenta left in the cartridge, you will be wasting those other colors once you replace the cartridge. Epson's use of six cartridges allows you to replace only one color per cartridge when it is out so as to reduce waste and lower your operating costs.

Once you've connected the Discproducer to your network and its computers via Ethernet, Epson's Total Disc Maker Software will provide you with all the functions necessary for burning and printing your discs. You'll simply need to select the media format to burn to a disc, drag-and-drop your content, design the label to be printed, configure your run, and click "Publish."

When you start to publish or print discs, Epson's Data Monitor Software will keep you informed of the status of your publishing job. It provides a bounty of relevant information to your job, such as ink levels in each cartridge, whether the drives or printer are in use, the total time needed for a job, any errors, and what disc stackers are being used to hold blank or published discs. As an added bonus, all of the included software can be freely installed on any computers on the Network. No licensing fees required.

In total, Epson's Discproducer Network Security Disc Publisher is a fast, convenient, hands-off way for you to burn and label a plethora of discs on an Ethernet network while carefully restricting access to the right users.