Fax over IP: Fax takes its place on the IP network

White PaperWhite Paper www.lanetelecom.com
Fax over IP: Fax
takes its place on
the IP network
A Lane Telecommunications White Paper
© 2009 Lane Telecommunications Page 1FFaaxx oovveerr IIPP:: FFaaxx ttaakkeess iittss place www.lanetelecom.componla tchee o InP tnheet wIPo nrektwork
Executive Summary The future for fax
The fax market is changing significantly though not in the way Perhaps the first questions that should be asked by companiespredicted by many. Far from an inevitable decline brought considering the options open to them regarding the furtherabout by the emergence of e-mail, the demand for fax, integration of their fax facilities into their broader communicationsparticularly from larger companies, is actually growing. The way infrastructure relates to the future of fax itself as a core means ofthat fax is managed within the business is also undergoing a communication within the business environment. Only whensignificant period of transition. Just as most medium to large satisfied that further investment is warranted will organisationsbusinesses made the shift from stand-alone fax machines to fax consider the options available to them. servers some time ago, many are now looking at the next phasein the evolution of integrated business communications and So what is the future for fax? considering moving fax onto their IP networks. The answer to this question lies in an understanding of the wayDemand for ever greater convergence of data and that fax is used within organisations throughout the world andcommunications networks is fuelled primarily by the cost in the attributes it has in comparison to the alternativessavings achievable through more efficient communications available. Lane is well placed to comment on the evolutionmanagement and lower infrastructure overheads. There is also a within the communications market having been involved as agreater need to improve corporate governance in order to vendor of messaging and document management systems forcomply with legislation requiring better record keeping and over 30 years. greater data security. The business has seen the strategic role of Telex and other wireConvergence in the voice market has gathered pace over recent services wane as fax became prevalent throughout the worldyears as standards have become well established and vendors providing cheap, secure and legally recognised communicationshave integrated IP capabilities into their equipment which has to virtually every business, irrespective of size or location. Lane'smade migration a relatively straightforward process. Voice over hardware based system, which was predominantly based onIP will achieve market penetration of over 50% by 2010 and now Telex and leased lines, gave way to the first release of theiraccounts for a large majority of all new voice systems being Passport Fax Server, then based on OS/2, which could manageinstalled today. both burgeoning fax traffic and integrate with e-mail as itbecame more widespread. Today, of course, Lane's Passport FaxIn the rush to integrate voice communications into IP networks Server has evolved significantly and is now the most powerfulfax has been somewhat overlooked but this is now changing Windows-based fax server on the market.and organisations are becoming aware of the role that faxservers can play in fully integrating communications and The flexibility of e-mail as a communications medium appearedseamlessly exchanging documents throughout the business. to signal the end of fax in the same way the fax had ended theAmong other things, legacy back-office systems can be linked in Telex era. Indeed, to the casual observer fax usage has declinedto allow production fax runs over IP networks and inbound as stand alone fax machines have been discarded and e-mailfaxes can be routed to appropriate workflows via various data has seemingly taken over our lives. This perception is, however,capture technologies within the fax server. The fax server some way wide of the mark. Sales of stand-alone fax machinesbecomes the central document exchange hub in the enterprise; have declined sharply in recent years but this is primarily thelinking remote locations and allowing the business to achieve result of a shift away from stand-alone fax machines to Multi-compliance goals across the whole organisation. Function Peripherals (MFPs), fax servers and outsourced faxservices. The reality is that fax usage is actual... [download for more]