Today we are looking at Xerox Remote Services, the Xerox servers, power outages and the Winter Storm of the week of February 14th. The entire country seemed to be impacted in one way or another during the record-breaking storm. What does this have to do with Xerox Remote Services? Well the extensive power outages. Power outages occurred throughout the country. Some outages were just a few minutes or hours and other lasted for days or weeks.
Power outage due to storms or just a transformer blowing in your local area can cause a loss of the connection from your printer(s) to the Xerox Servers and stop the exchange of information so that your meter reads and supplies status are not reported as they should be. This communication is necessary for the administration of metered billing and supplies replenishment plans for printers connected to a network.
If your area was or is ever impacted by a power outage, please assure that the printer is reconnected to the Xerox servers after power is restored.
Most current Xerox equipment comes with Xerox Device Direct functionality embedded directly inside. Some Xerox devices require a simple and free download called Xerox Device Agent (XDA). To see which option is available for your device please review the Products supported by Remote Services website.
If you are using Xerox Device Agent (XDA)* to communicate back to Xerox, the software must be installed on a computer that’s always up and running. Connectivity will be lost anytime the computer is turned off or completely losses power.
While you are checking the connectivity
- Ensure that the XDA is up to date with the latest software version that was released in October 2020, available on the Software and Solutions tab in the Xerox Remote Services Support and Software knowledgebase.
- Ensure your printer has the latest software version loaded for any products that have customer installable software. Confirm you have the latest software/firmware by checking the Drivers & Downloads tab on your printer’s support page under the firmware heading.
- Watch for security bulletins by subscribing to our free Xerox RSS feeds notifying you about patches or upgrades on connectivity. For instance, you can receive an upgrade for security certificates that have expired, avoiding unnecessary device disconnections.
- Ensure that connectivity is not disrupted when/if your Information Technology (IT) department makes changes to your network.
These tips should help you maintain your connection to Xerox so that the information about supplies, meter reads, and diagnostics can be reported in a timely fashion, saving you time and effort. You can confidently know that your printer is taking care of the information reporting for you.
*Xerox Device Agent (XDA) is a free Device Manager software application that not only enables Xerox Remote Services for the machine, but also provides a fleet management application that allows you to view the status of all Xerox Devices on your network right at your desktop.
Below is the link to install Xerox Device Agent (XDA) software application US and Canadian versions.
Link to XDA (Xerox Device Agent)
Link to Canadian XDA (Xerox Device Agent)
Link to User Guide
For additional questions, check out the FAQs for Remote Services that will answer your questions about the Xerox Remote Services.
Our hope is that you did not experience severe impact from the historic storm. If you did please make sure your printers have reconnected to the Xerox Servers. If you are not using Xerox Remote Services, consider using it to save time and effort.
