Did not read you thread fully,
Hear are the reasons.
The Fax Service that comes with XP or PRO does not handle intelligent fax
boards. For you to fax 25,000 people it would take you 2 solid says with a
bank of class modems. Not to mention you would crash the OS due to the file
structure.
Windows 2000 or pro can handle this with a more robust solution. for example
my product has distributive processing as well as a backend database such as
Oracle, SQL and mySQL this ensures more speed as well as better file
management and you are able to store and retrieve a higher number of faxes.
Please don't think that I am trying to sell you something I am just pointing
out some key areas that you should look for in any FAX product. I have also
inserted some text in hear that I sent Dave on why should you have a fax
server. You may find it intersting you may not.
Regards
Paul
What is a fax server and why should I have one?
What makes up a fax server? A fax server typically consists of three
components, a LAN connected PC running a Windows OS such as NT or Windows
2000 Server, Fax Server application software, and a fax/modem or preferably
an intelligent fax board such as Brooktrout (
www.brooktrout.com). When a
user wants to fax a document from their PC they can Print the document to a
Fax Printer, invoking a "Fax Schedule" screen which allows them to supply
recipient information (name & fax number), select a cover page and type a
message in the Note section and then Send the fax, all from their PC and in
less than 30 seconds. Another popular way to send faxes is to send an email
message to a FAX address, such as selecting a Contact's Business Fax address
from the Microsoft Outlook's Contact list, and then attaching the document
to be faxed.
Fax servers can also be set up to receive faxes. Once a fax is received the
following actions can be taken, Print the fax to a network printer, send the
fax to the appropriate user via email or notify them via email that they
have received a fax. The methods available for determining who the fax
belongs to are addressed in this document.
Why should I be interested in a fax server? In these times of layoffs and
cutbacks fewer people are left to perform the same amount of work, if not
more. Anytime the IT department can help their fellow workers perform the
same task in less time, they've done them a big favor. The old fashion way
of manually faxing documents is a waste of time and resources (paper, toner,
space required by fax machines). And, fax isn't going away anytime soon.
The following is an excerpt from an article recently published in Reach an
IT publication serving the EMEA region.
"Brooktrout Technology, the acknowledged leader in the intelligent fax board
industry reported another great year of fax board sales. Fax servers are
still in demand. And, for companies who already have a fax server, it is
considered a mission critical application. Along with the increasing use of
email and the Internet, world-wide fax traffic is growing as well. How can
this be in today's wired and wireless world?
One answer is that not everyone lives and works in our IT world. Entire
industries would come to a halt without faxes; finance, insurance, shipping,
health care, construction and energy, just to name a few.
Reality: For nearly 20 years, businesses and individuals alike have relied
upon fax for simple, fast and confirmable delivery of information and
documents. The documents that are faxed are often the ones that move
business; Purchase Orders, Invoices, stock trade confirmations, bills of
lading, and contracts.
The Internet started becoming pervasive a mere five to ten years ago and the
corporate wide use of email is even younger. Although it may seem like
everyone from Grandma and Grandpa to the youngest child in the family is
on-line, not everyone is connected yet. It's estimated that at least 25%
of the world does not have access to email or the Internet, but nearly
everyone has access to a fax machine. Perhaps that's one reason why
World-Wide fax traffic is increasing every year. As we all know, the
technology changes rapidly in the IT industry, but people and their habits
don't change quickly.
The challenge: Our task is to incorporate, not eliminate, the traditional
means of communication into our fast paced Internet enabled economy.
Although emails often replace a telephone call and most web sites are
glorified yellow page ads, we all still use the telephone and phone books
when we want to call someone or find a business. When it comes to commerce,
we still find it very easy to send a fax or request an order to be faxed to
us. Our challenge is to look for new and innovative ways to incorporate
faxed information into our evolving digital world.
The Solution: Use web enabled, scalable services and the Microsoft .Net
framework to deliver seamless, browser and email driven fax communications.
A properly implemented Computer Based Fax (CBF) solution will enable the
organization to send and receive faxes in the same manner they would any
other electronic communication".
Numerous studies document the costs associated with manually faxing
documents and the soft dollar savings provided by a fax server solution.
The following table documents the typical saving available to a company
sending 500 faxes per month.
Manual faxing
Fax server
Time to fax in minutes
8
0.5
Number of faxes per month
1,000
1,000
Burdened labor cost per hr
$ 30
$ 30
Cost per month
$ 4,000
$ 250
Monthly Savings
$ 3,750
Annual Savings
$ 45,000
In addition to the time savings, consider these improvements and
efficiencies:
Send faxes in the same way as you send email, by selecting a
Recipient and attaching the file to be faxed.
Fax enable other business processes such as Invoicing, Reports and
Purchase Orders so that the applications will automatically send the faxes
out.
Allow users to send faxes from their PC instead of having to print
out the document, walk it to the fax machine, stand in line, and then return
to the fax machine later to see if it went out.
Fax servers will automatically retry fax numbers if they are busy.
Fax software allows users to maintain frequently used fax numbers in
a Fax Phonebook or MS Outlook Contact, thus eliminating the need to search
for a fax numbers.
Fax phonebooks also make it easy to send faxes to groups of people,
making newsletters, marketing pieces and reports a breeze.
Faxes that are sent from fax servers look better since they are sent
directly from your PC and don't have to go through a low resolution scanning
process.
Fax servers make it easy to schedule faxes to be sent during cheaper
off-peak times.
When using a fax server to receive faxes, you can automatically route
incoming faxes to the right recipient as soon as they are received, ensuring
the timely and secure delivery of faxes.
If the fax server is connected into the email system, users can look
in one location for both emails and faxes.
Fax servers give Administrators the ability to monitor fax activity,
archive faxes and charge back fax related costs using call accounting
techniques.
