FAX server

[g35coupe]

Was wondering if any of you have setup a fax server for your company or anyone. My logical thinking behind this would be that you would register fax #'s with the phone company and each person in the company would get one. then when someone sent a fax, it would come through the server, get converted into a digital image, and then be sent to your corresponding email. my questions are what kind of special software, pricing on numbers with the phone company it would be. any help is greatly appreciated.

[mbossman2]

to set up a faxing service as you describe requires a few things:

1) phone lines
2) a fax modem board/pool
3) network faxing software

Pricing will vary widely depending upon the number of users, number of telephone lines and the like...

[faulkner132]

What OS and email is your server running?

Windows 200[0/3] Server and Exchange will accomodate this nicely with the Windows Fax Service. If you already have a Windows Server OS, the fax software is included... you would just have to pay for a single phone line.

[g35coupe]

im running windows 2000 server in conjunction with exchange server. if i have the phone lines registered with the phone company i still need the fax modem board correct? but i can use the fax service included with 2000 server as the network software

[faulkner132]

Yes, you will need a fax modem... unless your ISP can convert fax to images (which I highly doubt they do). Windows Fax Service should integrate nicely with Exchange.

[mbossman2]

you may also want to consider a faxing service instead of implementing an in-house fax server...the monthly cost may offset the additional capital expediture as well as the ongoing maintainence costs...

[faulkner132]

mbossman, what additional capital expenditure are you referring to? Other than purchasing a fax modem and paying for a fax number there shouldn't be any other cost. Once you have it set up, it just works.

Using a fax service can get very expensive, as most charge per page sent/received and once you are on a fax junk list (which is inevitable), your monthly bill can go up very quickly.

[mbossman2]

based upon the initial comments:

register fax #'s with the phone company and each person in the company would get one.

this might indicate more than one or 2 folks, which could indicate a need for more than just a modem or two...you may be looking at something like this that comes in the $3K to $17k range. Now add in the costs of dedicated lines ($500 + for a T1 or fractional T1 per month), the implementation costs, the possible server upgrades and the maintainence costs to keep all this stuff up, running and patched, you are looking at some significant coin...

Managed services have their place...while this may not be one of them, I was lobbing out a suggestion/option as the total scope of the project was not laid out...options are always a good thing

[faulkner132]

I see. The MS Fax Service and Exchange allows you to set routing for incoming faxes and outgoing faxes are sent as emails... so unless you have really heavy traffic, there is no need for more than 1 fax line.

[mbossman2]

i have never used this...how does the fax service identify a specific email user? it can't use inbound telephone number as there would be multiple users on the same number?

[faulkner132]

Typically what users do is either place all faxes in a "Public" folder so everyone can see the faxes, or have the faxes automatically forwarded to certain Exchange mailboxes.