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Fax Server, Fax Server Solutions For Exchange 2003, Active Directory & Group Policy
by Brian Kilduff
Fax Solutions for Exchange 2003, Active Directory & Group Policy This paper focuses on the implementation of a fax software solution on a Windows network. Fax software solutions are used by organizations to manage faxes that are sent out of and received into their enterprise. Within a Windows network, there are critical architectural, administrative and usage concerns to consider. It is important to not only review the feature set supplied by a fax software solution, but also how it will be implemented and managed, and its ability to grow with your network.
Specifically, a fax server solution for a Windows network should Utilize Active Directory or any other LDAP-Compliant Directory Service as a fax user list, such that no external database needs to be maintained or synchronized; Provide an MMC Snap-In to manage all aspects of the fax service, including installation and removal of fax queues worldwide from a single location; Implement application redundancy by distribution of multiple fax queues; Manage user attributes by policy, including support for Active Directory Group Policy as well as fax service policy; Require no schema extensions.
While the installed base of Exchange 2003 is growing, many Exchange 2000 and Exchange 5.5 implementations remain. Even those organizations committed to an Exchange 2003 rollout may need to operate in mixed mode for some period of time. Thus, it is critical that a fax server solution be able to support all three environments at one time and with equivalent functionality.
There is often a need to extend fax capabilities beyond the user community to business applications and processes. APIs provide a toolkit for sending, receiving and tracking faxes from applications or processes. While there are many APIs available, a good API Toolkit will incorporate several standards, including: COM — exposes fax service functions as COM objects; Java — exposes fax service functions to an any JVM; SMTP — send and receive faxes via email; Web Services — program from any development platform that supports Web Services; File Drop — drop the file to be faxed into a directory along with sending instructions; Document Templating — submit print or application output ‘as-is’ and require the fax service to interpret the output based on a previously defined template.
Advanced Fax Routing extends fax routing capabilities to enable fax processing to be included in business workflows. These capabilities include extracting data from received faxes, making queries to network resources, splitting a received fax into multiple fax documents, determining one or more destinations for each fax, and then delivering the fax and its associated data. The steps in implementing Advanced Fax Routing include Extract information from a received fax; Act on the extracted information; Deliver the received fax.
For more information on implementing a fax software solution on a Windows network, please contact Biscom to arrange a discussion with an applications engineer.
Biscom Inc.
321 Billerica Road Chelmsford, MA 01824 www.biscom.com sales@biscom.com (phone) 978-250-1800 (fax) 978-250-2539 Brian Kilduff VP Sales & Marketing bkilduff@biscom.com (phone) 978-367-3554 (fax) 978-250-2539 Biscom frequently hosts Webcasts that discuss fax software implementations on a Windows network. For details, visit www.biscom.com/news_events/index.htm.
These articles on lifestyle and more
Return to the selection of fax server
You may want to try these websites for additional information
http://www.biscom.com/products_solutions/fax_facts.htm
http://www.biscom.com/
http://www.faqs.org/docs/Linux-mini/Fax-Server.html
The information provided in this article is the express opinion of the author. Exchangenet is not responsible for the content!
Fax Solutions for Exchange 2003, Active Directory & Group Policy This paper focuses on the implementation of a fax software solution on a Windows network. Fax software solutions are used by organizations to manage faxes that are sent out of and received into their enterprise. Within a Windows network, there are critical architectural, administrative and usage concerns to consider. It is important to not only review the feature set supplied by a fax software solution, but also how it will be implemented and managed, and its ability to grow with your network.
Specifically, a fax server solution for a Windows network should Utilize Active Directory or any other LDAP-Compliant Directory Service as a fax user list, such that no external database needs to be maintained or synchronized; Provide an MMC Snap-In to manage all aspects of the fax service, including installation and removal of fax queues worldwide from a single location; Implement application redundancy by distribution of multiple fax queues; Manage user attributes by policy, including support for Active Directory Group Policy as well as fax service policy; Require no schema extensions.
While the installed base of Exchange 2003 is growing, many Exchange 2000 and Exchange 5.5 implementations remain. Even those organizations committed to an Exchange 2003 rollout may need to operate in mixed mode for some period of time. Thus, it is critical that a fax server solution be able to support all three environments at one time and with equivalent functionality.
There is often a need to extend fax capabilities beyond the user community to business applications and processes. APIs provide a toolkit for sending, receiving and tracking faxes from applications or processes. While there are many APIs available, a good API Toolkit will incorporate several standards, including: COM — exposes fax service functions as COM objects; Java — exposes fax service functions to an any JVM; SMTP — send and receive faxes via email; Web Services — program from any development platform that supports Web Services; File Drop — drop the file to be faxed into a directory along with sending instructions; Document Templating — submit print or application output ‘as-is’ and require the fax service to interpret the output based on a previously defined template.
Advanced Fax Routing extends fax routing capabilities to enable fax processing to be included in business workflows. These capabilities include extracting data from received faxes, making queries to network resources, splitting a received fax into multiple fax documents, determining one or more destinations for each fax, and then delivering the fax and its associated data. The steps in implementing Advanced Fax Routing include Extract information from a received fax; Act on the extracted information; Deliver the received fax.
For more information on implementing a fax software solution on a Windows network, please contact Biscom to arrange a discussion with an applications engineer.
Biscom Inc.
321 Billerica Road Chelmsford, MA 01824 www.biscom.com sales@biscom.com (phone) 978-250-1800 (fax) 978-250-2539 Brian Kilduff VP Sales & Marketing bkilduff@biscom.com (phone) 978-367-3554 (fax) 978-250-2539 Biscom frequently hosts Webcasts that discuss fax software implementations on a Windows network. For details, visit www.biscom.com/news_events/index.htm.
These articles on lifestyle and more
Retain all company, product, contact, and URL references. fax server
Return to the selection of fax server
You may want to try these websites for additional information
http://www.biscom.com/products_solutions/fax_facts.htm
http://www.biscom.com/
http://www.faqs.org/docs/Linux-mini/Fax-Server.html
The information provided in this article is the express opinion of the author. Exchangenet is not responsible for the content!
