Technesis, developer of the PrintControlOnline cloud-based print management application, has embedded a version of the HHR3 in its Color Intensity Engine to track the intensity of ink and toner used in any print stream across any device.

According to Martin Bailey, chief technology officer at Global Graphics, the move was been inspired by manufacturers - particularly in the office printing and light production space - moving the click charge to a model that incorporates some element of ink or toner coverage.

"If you print a full colour photo with 300% coverage then that's obviously going to cost a lot more than printing out a mono report with 5% coverage," he added.

"Technesis has had a solution to monitor who prints what and to which output device for some time, but they wanted to extend that beyond: someone's printed a 16pp A4 report, to include the fact that the ink coverage was less than 5% on every page.

"We're providing the interpretation of the Post Script, PDF and PCL files and feeding that into Technesis' own coverage software."

The software, which is due for release in Q4 2012, will allow manufacturers to remotely manage ink and toner usage from any web-enabled device, to facilitate better cost per page on their managed service devices.

Jon Baker, vice president of Technesis, said: "Leveraging the Harlequin RIP from Global Graphics enables us to take the MPS proposition to the next level. Tracking ink and toner coverage intensity is as critical as tracking the actual click. That coverage variable determines the cost of the print. If it can’t be measured accurately it can’t be managed effectively."

Ron Iversen, vice president of field operations for Global Graphics, added: "we are very excited about the use of our Harlequin RIP technology as an engine for calculating accurate ink usage which will allow enterprises and print providers to better manage print resources with a very accurate print pricing/costing model."