Fax Service Basics

• What is a fax?
• What is a computer based fax?
• What is a fax service?
• What is a fax server?
• Won't e-mail replace fax?
• How do network fax servers improve efficiency?
• How does Biscom help?
• What is the difference among the Personal, Business and Enterprise Services?

What is fax?

Facsimile (fax) is a method of encoding data and transmitting it over a regular telephone line so that it can be received in the form of hard copy. A fax machine scans an image (text, photograph, drawing, etc.) by reading one small area of the image at a time. Then the fax machine transmits that image to a remote facsimile receiver via telephone lines. There are currently over 50 million fax machines in use today, and they have revolutionized everyday communications around the world.

What is computer-based fax?

Computer-based fax is a term that applies to using computers instead of fax machines to send and receive faxes. Typically, though not always, a computer will be on one end of the transmission, while a fax machine will be on the other end. Computer-based fax includes:

What is a fax service?

A fax service provides an outsourced solution for computer-based fax. Instead of purchasing equipment and installing fax lines, the fax service manages and maintains the fax communications hardware and the telephone network connectivity. The users of the fax service typically see only their desktop e-mail client or fax client, which they use to send or receive faxes. Typically, each user is given an individual inbound fax number to which outside parties can send faxes. Faxes arrive at the desktop and can be viewed on the screen or printed out. The user of the fax service pays a fee to the fax service provider, which is typically based on a monthly fee and the number of pages sent.

What is a fax server?

Fax servers consist of software running on dedicated computers that connect to an organization’s local area network (LAN). Typically they contain intelligent fax boards that connect with the telephone network to handle very high volumes of inbound and outbound fax calls. The fax server allows all of the members of the organization to send and receive faxes at their personal workstations, multi-function peripheral devices (MFPs), or even traditional fax machines. The fax service provider uses many fax servers in a load-balanced configuration to provide fax services to its customers. Through the fax service, users are able to access the capabilities of a fax server without making the investment of installing and maintaining a fax server and support staff.

Won’t e-mail replace fax?

Despite the proliferation of e-mail, fax is still the communication medium of choice for millions of organizations worldwide. Fax messages provide a fast, reliable, secure and inexpensive way to transmit documents from place to place. Fax communication protocols have long been standardized, so every fax machine can talk to every other fax machine. Unlike e-mail, faxes are also recognized as valid legal documents. Some other advantages of faxing include:

• Viruses - faxes can’t carry damaging programs or infect the receiving fax machine
• Security - faxes are transmitted directly to the recipient and cannot be read or copied in transit
• Reliability - guaranteed point-to-point communication over ordinary phone lines

While e-mail has become a valuable tool for business, fax remains the best way to transmit documents quickly, reliably and legally. Furthermore, many organizations implement plans to use fax as an alternate communications system to e-mail and regular postal service to support business continuity in the event of an unplanned disaster.

How do network fax servers improve efficiency?

Fax servers let users send and receive faxes directly from their workstations. Not only is this functionality a step toward the paperless office, it also allows a tremendous amount of workflow automation. Since computer-based fax handling is electronic, faxes can be routed to the appropriate people, read, modified and faxed back with appended documents or any other printable files. Faxes can be sent to shared folders so that multiple users can read a single transmission. Accounting systems can automatically fax invoices to customers while maintaining an audit trail for every fax transaction.

How Does Biscom Help?

Biscom, Inc. has been in business for 20 years, serving the fax management needs of major organizations. FAXCOM Anywhere provides most of the functionality of the Biscom FAXCOM Server product line on a pay-for-use service model. Biscom supports a wide range of fax solutions - desktop PC fax, transactional fax, e-mail to fax, workflow applications, and custom fax applications - through the open architecture of our FAXCOM Anywhere service. We are also well known for our hands-on, customer-focused approach. Our specialists will gladly discuss your organization’s communications needs with you. We can help you identify specific operations where a FAXCOM Anywhere solution could provide greater security, safety, and/or savings. Need more answers about faxing and fax servers? Contact us at (800) 477-2472 or sales@corp.faxcomanywhere.com.

What is the difference between the Business and Enterprise Services?

FAXCOM Anywhere provides organizations with multiple users a number of plans to meet their specific needs:

Using FAXCOM Anywhere

FAXCOM Anywhere Business Service

For small offices and workgroups.

Office Edition accounts are designed for small businesses and professional groups that need multiple personal accounts that are centrally managed. Office accounts allow an account administrator to set up new users, assign phone numbers, and manage accounts. In addition, the aggregate page volume from all users of an Office Account may reduce the per-page rate. All charges appear on a single monthly bill.


FAXCOM Anywhere Enterprise Service

For small to medium size enterprises

This option provides all the benefits of a high-performance enterprise fax server, without having to install one. Just download the FAXCOM Suite for Windows module and install it as a service on any Windows 2000 or 2003 server. This software integrates with LDAP or Active Directory to allow an administrator to assign users rights to access fax services, assign phone numbers, and set up queues by department.

It also works with Group Policy and provides tight integration with Exchange, Outlook, SMTP, Windows desktops, and the Web. The Web component can be integrated with your own corporate portal, rather than using the FAXCOM Anywhere Web site.

Furthermore, FAXCOM Anywhere Enterprise has a Software Developers Kit (SDK) that allows programmers to fax-enable in-house applications. Many other commercial software programs, as well as office multifunctional peripheral devices from Xerox, HP, Cannon, Lexmark and others, are integrated with FAXCOM Anywhere Enterprise.

Growth Path

FAXCOM Anywhere is the industry’s only fax solution that provides a complete spectrum of options for users and a built-in growth and migration path. An organization can start with a few single users, upgrade to a FAXCOM Anywhere Business solution, then move to a FAXCOM Anywhere Enterprise solution, and then even migrate to a FAXCOM server in a time frame that suits your specific needs.

Furthermore, FAXCOM Anywhere is the only solution that offers a program that credits a portion of your payments to a future upgrade to a higher service option or to purchase a FAXCOM Server.

To get started with a corporate account, contact us today at (800) 477-2472 or
sales@corp.faxcomanywhere.com