VMblog:  Can you give VMblog readers a quick overview of your company?

Andrew Parlette:  Tricerat has obsessed over printing and scanning for 25 years. We started by pioneering the first ever Virtual Print Driver and developed our own page description language. Since then, we've expanded our technology stack to an entire suite of printing and scanning solutions that enable even the most complex IT environments to experience simplicity and steep bottom line savings.  

VMblog:  Your company is sponsoring this year's VMware Explore event.  Can you talk about what that sponsorship looks like?

Parlette:  We will have a 10x10 booth on the floor (booth #1815) that will be staffed with Tricerat employees to answer questions and give demos.

VMblog:  VMware has decided to change the name of the event this year from VMworld to VMware Explore.  With VMworld being such a part of the history, do you have any thoughts on the name change?

Parlette:  A branding change can be jarring, especially when the existing brand has been around as long as VMworld. While we do like VMware Explore, it does take some time to adjust. We've been known to still refer to it as VMworld from time to time and I would guess others do the same. That will change over time.

VMblog:  What are your thoughts and expectations with the event being in person again instead of just a digital / online event?  Are attendees ready for this?  Do you anticipate the crowd size of VMworld pre-pandemic?

Parlette:  Overall we're very excited to be back in-person at VMware Explore. We appreciate the technical ability to have online conferences when necessary, and there are some advantages of a virtual event, but there are several aspects of an in-person conference that can't be replicated. We always enjoy the atmosphere and energy at in-person events, and the chance to meet and speak to a lot of people.

We hope to see pre-pandemic crowd sizes at this event, however having the event canceled for two years loses some of the momentum gained from routine yearly schedules. I would expect this to build back up quickly and hopefully attract people that didn't previously attend.

VMblog:  How can attendees of the event find you?  What do you have planned at your booth this year?  What type of things will attendees be able to do at your booth? 

Parlette:  Tricerat will be at booth #1815 with a range of staff on hand to talk to conference attendees. We'll have a live demo running to show the highlights of our print solution, and enjoy speaking with IT admins about their environment and exploring ways to ease the burdens of print management and offer improved services to their end users. Come by and say high and register for our prize giveaway.

VMblog:  What are you personally most interested in seeing or learning at VMware Explore?

Parlette:  At a high level I'm looking to see how VMware positions itself with the conference resuming for the first time after two years. More specifically, there continues to be many innovations in the EUC solution stack with Horizon, third party vendors, and other EUC platforms, and exploring both the VMware booth as well as other companies in the expo hall. The tagline of a multi-cloud journey is very relevant to many companies today, and we'll be watching to see VMware's leadership in this area and ways that Tricerat solutions can further enhance an IT solution stack.

VMblog:  Can you give us the high-level rundown of your company's technology offerings?  What kind of message will an attendee hear from you this year?

Parlette:  Our flagship product is ScrewDrivers, printing and scanning management software that eliminates printer and scanner drivers in any IT environment with a universal virtual print driver. ScrewDrivers delivers simplified administration of printing for IT Admins and a premium user experience for users of desktops, VDI, and remote applications. Admins can manage an entire organization's printing and scanning environment from one dashboard with quick drag-and-drop assignments, organize printer locations easily with maps, and more.

VMblog:  Talking about your product solutions, can you give readers a few examples of how your offerings are unique?  What are your differentiators?  What sets you apart from the competition?

Parlette:  We excel at print driver virtualization, scanner driver virtualization, cross-platform support, our proprietary TMF page description language, and a drag and drop dashboard. ScrewDrivers is adaptable to print server environments as well as server-free print infrastructures. We also enable end-user flexibility through self-service print management including adding printers from a map and unique configurations with printer profiles.

In short, simply print from any device, in any location, to any printer.

VMblog:  What specifically does your company offer a VMware shop or a VMware implementation?  What problems do you solve for them?

Parlette:  As a VMware Technology Alliance Partner, Tricerat simplifies the process of printing and scanning in a VDI desktop environment. Our software solutions embrace and extend the native functionality of VMware, allowing users to print and scan seamlessly from any device at any location.

VMblog:  How does your company work with VMware?  Where do you fit within the VMware ecosystem?

Parlette:  Tricerat has been VMware partners for over 15 years. ScrewDrivers boosts the capabilities of VMware Horizon print management by enabling reliable printing across remote protocols and providing administrators with management tools to deliver print services to users. Add Tricerat's pioneering print technology to VMware Horizon print management to achieve printing success, no matter the client type or mobile device your workforce is on. Let your VMware System Administrators focus on high level VMware environment issues, not printing problems.

VMblog:  VMworld has typically been a launching platform for new products.  At VMware Explore, will your company be announcing anything new?  If so, can you give us a sneak peek?

Parlette:  Tricerat has been consistently updating ScrewDrivers to be the most full-featured print management solution for EUC environments. We just released version 7.3 and will have that live for demos at the booth, as well as information about our roadmap for the months ahead. If you're a current customer of Tricerat, we would love for you to stop by the booth and talk with our engineers about your use of the product and ways that Tricerat can help your print management efficiency even more.

VMblog:  VMware will be covering big topics in their keynote, but what big changes or trends do you see taking shape in the industry for 2022 and heading into 2023?

Parlette:  We are looking forward to seeing how VMware delivers their vision for their platforms during an in-person event and conference. With the shift in work styles from the past couple years, companies are leveraging more cloud technologies but there still very much exists an on-premises infrastructure and the need to manage a variety of platforms and access types. Since Tricerat is an EUC solution provider, we will be looking for Horizon announcements to embrace and extend their VDI technologies.

VMblog:  Are you giving away any prizes at your booth or participating in any prize giveaways?

Parlette:  We are giving away a Nintendo Switch, stop by the booth to enter! We will also have other giveaways including t-shirts for visiting attendees.