Printers Go Wireless--And Stay SafePrinters Go Wireless--And Stay Safe

Lexmark International Inc. last week rolled out a new line of printers that incorporates wireless and security features and can be tailored for use in specific industries such as financial services, retail, and health care.

Lexmark unveiled a range of color and black-and-white workgroup and departmental printers that include standard security features and a 10-digit numeric keypad to permit longer passwords. The printers have a built-in USB port that lets users print PDF files directly from flash memory devices. Customers also can retrieve and print information from the Internet by storing bookmarks in the printer.

The printers come with the Lexmark N8050 internal wireless card, which lets users put the printers in convenient locations. Lexmark added WPA-Enterprise security to the card to make sure data sent to the printer wirelessly travels over the corporate network securely. Lexmark also is working with software providers to equip printers with ultraviolet toner. Once a document is printed using the toner, the information remains invisible to the common eye, but it can be used to authenticate documents. In addition, the new printers have an integrated bar-code feature, which lets users print out documents with bar codes. Prices range from $699 for black and white to $3,549 for a networked color printer.