Fax technology is still a very active and innovative part of the office environment, but it has been continuously changing in terms of appearance and technology.Its basic functionality stays the same – to transfer documents from one place to another. In today’s all-IP environments, it is much more common to see Fax over IP (FoIP) as the benefits that can be delivered to the business are considerable.
FoIP enables documents to be sent efficiently over an IP network, enabling green IT characteristics to your network: no more modems needed, the capability of working with virtual fax servers, advanced media gateways and low energy consumption.
Your modem and telephone lines can be eliminated within the enterprise as there is no longer a need for lines to be connected to the fax server computer. In addition, the hardware does not need to be located in the same server so if server changes are made, it won’t affect the FoIP technology used within the corporate environment.
A fax document is sent, via Internet, when dealing with FoIP. Within the FoIP system, faxes are actually sent in a series of packages and are received also as a series of data packages; just like any message sent over IP.
When a fax is sent through FoIP, the sax server sends data to the gateway – the phone system – over the LAN. The gateway then send this data down the phone line or the the media gateway of the receipient as a fax tone or as a data package tagged as 'fax'. The remote fax machine that is receiving the data will send confirmation messages back through the same route. The entire process is in real-time so the fax server knows when and if the fax has been successfully received.
While FoIP can deliver a number of benefits to your environment, there are a few things you and your company should consider before making the move to such a platform:
1. examine your network as fax transmissions using FoIP can be affected if there are delays or data loss situations on the company network;
2. Analyze the current fax flow and infrastructure to identify any improvements that should be made when moving to FoIP;
3. Research available options to see how they might fit your needs;
4. Find a reliable media gateway from: Funkwerk, Dialogic, Lancom or XCapi
5. Plan and execute the implementation with the assistance of a FoIP provider or of a consultant.
Examine Visendo Fax Server FoIP imtegration opportunities here.
70c85a87-2131-4f5f-9c25-a66ad0b0e4dd|1|4.0