FACSys® over IP is a native implementation of the T.38 protocol for the FACSys Fax Messaging Gateway product. It is a SIP-enabled communication layer, which allows the fax server to communicate directly with tested gateways using IP to eliminate the requirement for physical PSTN connections to the server platform or third-party software.
Free from the requirement for a physical fax board, the FACSys over IP system is fully capable of being deployed in a Microsoft® Hyper-V or VMWare® virtual server environment.
The FACSys 5.1 solution that clients are familiar with today can be enabled for Fax over IP (FoIP) by deploying the FACSys FoIP software add on. Installed on the same server, this option encapsulates the T.30 fax traffic that FACSys is familiar with into T.38 FoIP, and allows the server to communicate across the IP LAN or WAN with one or more gateways or FoIP capable PBX/key systems.
Significant changes in the infrastructure required for deployment of fax machines and servers have been introduced with the introduction of the T.38 International Telecommunication Union (ITU) standard for FoIP in 1998.
While two T.38 devices can send faxes to each other, in reality, a T.38 fax call most typically has at least part of the call being carried over the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), as most devices deployed today do not have T.38 interfaces. Instead, they communicate using the T.30 specification, published in the early 1990s by the ITU, the handshaking protocol used between Group III/IV facsimile machines to establish and maintain communications. With about 250 million fax machines in use communicating using only T.30, FoIP requires a T.38 enabled gateway that has the ability to convert or encapsulate T.30 data into a T.38 data stream for transmission and reception.
Customers capable of moving voice calls across an IP infrastructure using Voice over IP (VoIP) can now route FoIP calls to corporate fax servers no matter where they are located on the network (be they in the same server rack, same data centre, or even some geographically different data centre). Fax servers no longer need to be physically connected to telephone lines and deployed in every location where a fax call is required to be terminated. A stand-alone gateway, which connects both to outside telephone or PBX tie lines and the corporate network or an IP enabled PBX/Key system that supports the T.38 protocol, will handle the conversion of inbound and outbound T.30 fax calls to T.38 FoIP calls.
The “virtualization” of fax board technology into software that can easily be deployed on the same Microsoft® Server operating systems that host the FACSys application, introduce, for the first time, the ability to run a fax server environment as a virtual server. Support for VMWare® and Hyper-V deployments bring the inherent benefits of virtual server technology, such as reduced costs, both environmental and operational, and enhanced recoverability to the fax server environment. Additionally the migration of fax traffic to IP from analog and digital connectivity means that fax servers need no longer be deployed in each and every location where fax traffic is to be terminated. This transformation in architecture allows for reduced server counts and the attendant cost savings.
