Faxination for Microsoft Exchange
|
Faxination for Microsoft Exchange |
|
 FenestraeFaxination ® for Microsoft Exchange is a high performance, scaleable fax server for Microsoft's new enterprise messaging system. With Faxination, Microsoft Exchange users can not only send faxes straight from their desktop, incoming faxes can also be delivered within Microsoft Exchange, offering a true universal inbox. In spite of all the attention for the Internet, between corporations, fax is still by far the most used method (>90%) for external communications. By integrating fax with the messaging environment the user is already familiar with (Microsoft Exchange!!), you can save significantly on fax related labor cost, without adding the overhead that comes with a dedicated LAN Fax solution. Faxination for Microsoft Exchange, Features and FunctionsNative Integration with Microsoft Exchange Faxination for Windows NT, Exchange Edition has seamless integration with both the Microsoft Exchange Server and the Microsoft Exchange Clients. Microsoft Exchange Client Integration Because Faxination for Windows NT is designed to fully integrate with Microsoft Exchange, it does not require a separate fax client. All fax functionality is implemented as extensions on the Microsoft Exchange client.
Sending a fax with Faxination is just like sending E-Mail. If you know how to send a mail you can send a fax. Among features supported are:
Native Exchange Server Integration Faxination for Microsoft Exchange was designed from the ground up as a native Windows NT service. Within Microsoft Exchange, Faxination is a Fax Connector like X.400 and SMTP. Fax specific items are implemented as extensions on Microsoft Exchange which can be administered through the Microsoft Exchange admin.
Direct Inbound Routing: The "Universal Inbox" Direct Inbound Routing allows end users to receive incoming faxes automatically at their desktop without any operator intervention. Faxination maps "virtual fax numbers" to mailbox ID's. These Virtual Fax Numbers are not limited to DID connections, but can be implemented on PBX and ISDN connections as well. Faxination users will receive Faxes like any other messages in their Microsoft Exchange inbox. Double clicking the item automatically launches the fax viewer. Through standard options like forward and print, they can manage their faxes like any other Microsoft Exchange message. Besides routing straight to the inbox, it is also possible to route incoming faxes to Microsoft Exchange folders or network printers. Advanced Cost Management On average, Fortune 500 companies spend over $13.6 million in fax phone bills. Faxination offers extensive facilities to actually save and control money spent on fax transmission. Based on the message priority and destination, Faxination will automatically schedule international faxes for the optimum transmission slot (e.g. off-peak rates). It is also possible to bundle fax traffic to certain destinations, slicing up to 30% off the phone bill. Cost Analyses & Chargeback With the Faxination Cost Manager, you can actually track and report fax usage and the related cost. The built in report writer gives overviews of fax usage per destination, per user, per department. With these overviews and the tariff schedule you can create internal charge-back reports. For organizations who want to invoice fax costs to their clients (e.g. legal profession etc.) it is possible to enter a charge-account id on a per message or per recipient basis. Scaleable & Future Safe As an native Windows NT application, Faxination for Microsoft Exchange is very scaleable. It can support anything from a small workgroup with a single line to an enterprise backbone with thousands of users and up to 256 fax-lines on both analog and digital phone connections. Faxination is not a fax only product. Within corporations today, 98% off all external communication is fax, and therefore it is the common dominator for virtually every business user. However, there is a need for other external communications. Fenestrae will in the near future also release connectors for Telex, Pagers, EDI and Voice Mail. All offering the same tight integration with Microsoft Exchange as Faxination. On the application level we will extend our integration in the full Microsoft BackOffice™ suite and SAP R/2-R/3 systems. Faxination BenefitsSignificant Gains in End-user Productivity With Faxination users send faxes straight from their desktop. With our OLE support and native Microsoft Office 95 document support, integrated faxing reaches a new standard. Besides giving the individual end-user a quicker and better way to do his job this generates tremendous savings in fax related labor costs. A study by Ovum indicates that by just automating outbound faxing, a corporation with 600 users could annually save $120.000 in fax related labor cost. Reduced Transmission Costs With Faxination, corporations can significantly reduce their transmission cost, especially in international traffic. With the average Fortune 500 annual fax telephone bill running up to $13.6 million even savings as little as 5% can be very worthwhile. Lower System Maintenance Costs Faxination system administration is completely integrated with the Mail Administration. The Ovum report indicates that the average cost of E-Mail is $290 per user of which $245 is related to management cost. Adding a non-integrated fax solution would at least double this bill, while Faxination overhead is probably not more than 10%. Less User Training and Support Costs Because Faxination uses the E-Mail system, no additional user training is required. Support is integrated with the existing support on the mail system. Improved Cost Control and Accounting With Faxination Accounting you can get a grip on traffic as it allows exact analysis of traffic patterns and costs. Cost can be charged to accounts (users, departments) or specific projects. Access can be limited to authorized users and authorization can be given on different levels (e.g. National / International). Retain Message Confidentiality When sending and especially receiving a fax in the traditional way, the chances of unauthorized persons reading confidential faxes are very high. Due to the fact that Faxination faxes are sent and received within the Microsoft Exchange environment, confidentiality is guaranteed. Faxination for Microsoft Exchange, Technical OverviewProduct Overview Faxination for Microsoft Exchange runs as a service on Windows NT Server or Workstation. Faxination connects to Microsoft Exchange Server as a Microsoft Exchange Transport. It can either run on the same physical Microsoft Exchange server or on a separate machine. Because Faxination has native integration with the Microsoft Exchange Server all existing and future Microsoft Exchange clients are supported. Faxination supports a broad line of internationally approved fax boards and modems (e.g. Brooktrout, Gammalink, Class 1.x/2.x). The Faxination Server Architecture Faxination has a three layer architecture:
 This layered approach makes it very easy to add different subsystems to Faxination. Faxination for Microsoft Exchange is actually implemented as a Host subsystem. In the device layer, we can not only easily add support for different fax devices (Brooktrout, Gammalink, Class 1.x/2.x), but also for other types of communication like Telex, Pagers and Voice Mail. The interface between the layers is based on Remote Procedure Calls (RPC). It allows the different layers to be implemented on different systems. Because the device layer interfaces directly with the communications hardware, which might need servicing, most customers prefer to run this service on a separate machine and not on the Exchange server. It is also possible for one Faxination kernel to concurrently support multiple devices. This gives the systems almost unlimited scaleability and fault tolerance. |
