Fax Servers

That's not the case for FoIP (fax over IP) products. FoIP fax services bypass the PSTN and use TCP/IP LANs, WANs and the Internet to send and receive faxes. FoIP uses T.37 (store-and-forward) and T.38 (real-time) protocols. T.37 is an asynchronous transport that hangs on the coattails of e-mail. It is used to insert TIFF files into e-mail messages as attachments. The e-mail is sent to another e-mail client to view, print or save the attachment. This approach lacks a secure, point-to-point transmission, unless you apply encryption. The T.38 standard is a real-time protocol that lets you transmit faxes over TCP/IP using a gateway or fax relay without fax boards.

FoIP has gotten easier to use over the years, but it still doesn't beat the old-fashioned analog method, which is cheap, reliable, easy to use and secure. The old method requires only a modem or a fax board with software, and you can be faxing over a dedicated phone line in no time. An entry-level fax board from Brooktrout (TruFax 100 uPCI) can be had for as little as $399. And the fax servers we tested range from $695 to $8,995.

Reviewing the Fax

We sought fax server software that supports an Intel architecture and can run on Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003. Each server had a Brooktrout TR114 PCI analog fax board with one loop-start port and one DID (direct-inward dialing) port. (The loop-start port takes the phone off the hook to send and receive faxes; DID is used to route incoming faxes. For more on DID, see "Need Automatic Routing? DID Does It,".) We required fax servers that support DID to route incoming fax transmissions automatically. Without DID, faxes would require manual routing or universal user access to the entire incoming fax queue. We also required that the server use an Exchange connector or an SMTP gateway for integration with a Microsoft Exchange Server 2003.We sent invitations to Biscom, Captaris, Castelle, Copia International, Esker Software, FaxCore Corp., GFI Software, Interstar, Omtool and Tobit Software. Only Omtool failed to get back to us. However, Interstar's FoIP solution didn't fit our analog criteria and Tobit's Faxware 7 didn't have an evaluation copy. We did receive a copy of Tobit's David XL software, but it supports only ISDN fax boards or modems.

All the products we tested are mature, and for the most part, each installed onto test servers running Windows 2000 and 2003 servers without difficulty. Castelle sent its FaxPress Premier appliance, a plug-and-play device that we ran under Windows 2000 in our Syracuse University Real-World Labs®. We set up servers in a test fax domain, so the products could use Active Directory or an LDAP-based directory.

Most of the products we tested employ one-way synchronization tools to import Windows users into the fax system. These tools act fast, but in most cases you will have to scrutinize password migration. Castelle's FaxPress Premier sets a random password, for example. Although FaxPress users can fax from their desktops after single sign-on authentication, they cannot authenticate to Web fax services until you reset their passwords. In one-way synchronization, Active Directory updates propagate to your fax system, but changes to users in the fax system don't return to Active Directory. A better way to authenticate users is through LDAP. Almost all our participants can authenticate from back-end servers using Active Directory or NTLM. But only the products from Biscom, Esker and FaxCore provide full support for LDAP-compliant directories.

The products we tested let users send faxes from their desktops at the click of a mouse. They include a bevy of features, and each can integrate with Active Directory and messaging applications like Lotus Notes, Microsoft Exchange and Novell GroupWise. They all support clustering and load-balancing for high-volume and fault-tolerant fax services. Some fax servers, including the ones from Biscom, Captaris, Castelle and Esker, can even use LCR (least-cost routing) to send faxes using IP over WANs or the Internet to the most cost-effective fax server to transmit a fax to the PSTN--ideally, a local call.

Tough CallThe FaxCore 4370 and GFI Faxmaker tied in our Report Card. We gave our Editor's Choice award to FaxCore, because we liked its focus on Web-based administration and fax management with LDAP integration. FaxCore 4370 installed with ease under Windows 2003 server and provided a fast path for users to authenticate to Active Directory and send and receive faxes over an HTTP interface. It also supplied a Web-browser administration tool and strong integration points with LDAP-based directories, Microsoft Exchange and SMTP mail.

GFI Faxmaker, meanwhile, was the fastest out-of-the-box faxer to let domain users fax using Exchange. It also had the lowest price.

Neither product was a far cry from the rest of the pack. All the products we tested let users send faxes from Windows applications, including e-mail. And all but Esker Fax and FaxFacts included at least a rudimentary Web interface to their fax servers for review. Esker sells one as an add-on; FaxFacts doesn't.

If you're in the market to buy or upgrade a fax server, look for a product that will use your existing directory services to incorporate users and your e-mail application to send and receive faxes to recipients listed in Outlook contacts or Windows address books. This will give you an easy method for faxing documents, keep your administration overhead low and increase the value of your existing infrastructure. You can use existing message stores, such as e-mail, to handle faxing, and you can still manage users from one point of authority.This product's moderate price, smooth integration with Microsoft Exchange and ability to accept fax requests from e-mail delivered directly to the server gave the FaxCore 4370 a distinct edge over the other products we tested. Although importing directory address books and contacts was not as straightforward as it was with GFI Faxmaker's use of Outlook contacts, the FaxCore, running on Windows 2003 with .Net services and IIS, fit right into our test bed.

In our tests, FaxCore enabled authentication for fax services using Active Directory without a fuss. It also authenticated users from a Windows NT Domain (NTLM) and a Lotus Domino system (LDAP). Within minutes after installing and verifying fax services, we were using the Web interface to upload documents to personal and shared folders, and sending and receiving faxes.

FaxCore includes a built-in SMTP listener as a mail-to-fax gateway. The listener also works with Exchange, GroupWise and Notes systems, as long as Microsoft's IIS SMTP service is not enabled. After installation, we easily verified that FaxCore's services were up from the Web interface and that the SMTP listener had an ear on TCP Port 25.

The package supplies a navigable interface to all the configuration and monitoring points available. And though the interface doesn't resemble Explorer's, it's easy to move among the various administration pages that show tabbed views of users, queues, lines and running services.

We entered AD information to enable external authentication, synchronize AD, and import users and contacts into FaxCore's Microsoft SQL-compliant, local database, which stores information on users, address books and faxes. That database lets you access the best server-side search tool in our roundup: You can use metadata, including CSID (calling station ID), date received/sent, sender, recipient or billing information, to search for faxes.The SQL database provides a rich reporting environment, but FaxCore lacks standard reports. A few basics, such as total faxes and pages sent and received by user or calling number, would be useful. As long as data is captured in sufficient detail, though, enterprises can extract it for reports.

Setting up Exchange integration was painless, if not seamless. As we did with GFI Faxmaker, we created an SMTP connector in the Exchange System manager, then, using the Exchange server as the default SMTP virtual server, we set the connector to forward all faxes to the FaxCore server, a smart host. In the address field of the connector, we set the media type to "FAX" with a cost of "1" and put an asterisk in the address field. Once that was done, Outlook clients could attach files to e-mail and send mail to "FAX: @," and the mail was routed to FaxCore for processing. End users could monitor the process by setting an Outlook folder to view the FaxCore server by its URL.

Like all the Windows print drivers we tested, FaxCore's is installed from a network share and distributed to end users silently. Upon sending a document to the printer from a client, a user interface logged us into the FaxCore server with our domain user ID and password. The printer rendered the document in TIF format to view and fax. We also could have included a cover page and memo.

FaxCore's Web setup requires a Windows 2003 Server in an application server role with ASP.Net and IIS enabled without SMTP support. Because fax requests will come in from the Web and e-mail, FaxCore--like many of the servers in this roundup--requires CPU time to render documents for transmission. You'll need at least a single Intel P4 (1.8 GHz and above) or a dual PIII (1.1 GHz and above), with hyperthreading support recommended. The server can run the rendering engine on a separate server to reduce loads in large enterprises. Support for LCR will be added next year.

FaxCore 4370. FaxCore, (720) 870-4141. www.faxcore.comGFI Faxmaker tightly integrates with AD and Exchange and provides a full suite of features--all at the best price among the products we tested.

Faxmaker took less time to install and configure than any other product. It recognized AD and our Exchange server during installation, but we had to install the program as a domain administrator. A configuration wizard gave us options for Microsoft Exchange 2000/2003 or 5.5, Lotus Notes or any other SMTP POP 3 server, and an ISP-hosted mail server. After choosing the correct Brooktrout card as the fax hardware, we specified a fax administrator and users by selecting them from our domain list of users. Nice. If you don't have Active Directory, you can import user lists in CSV file format or create them manually.

Installing the dedicated fax client software was easier than installing the server module, though clients should be installed with administrator privileges on the PC. Like the other products we tested, Faxmaker needs to install a printer driver to fax. Once that's done, you can fax documents directly from Outlook clients and native Windows applications. You also can install the FAXCLIENTSMTP.MSI if you use an SMTP server.

Some servers, including Faxmaker, require the native application on the server to render or transform the document into a fax format for transmission. Other servers, like FaxCore, have built-in conversion services. With Faxmaker, we sent a fax message with an attachment, using Outlook. The fax was routed through the Exchange server to the Faxmaker server, but hung in a queue. To avoid the conversion time-out on the attachment, we had to associate an application program on the server with the mail attachment to print and convert the file to fax format. When using mail-to-fax services and Web clients to send faxes, files are passed to the server in their original format (Microsoft Word, for instance) instead of being converted by client-side printer drivers.

Like other vendors, GFI includes tools to configure fax-board services. We set the line capability as DID/ISDN lines or analog DTMF routing. Line options include maximum resolution (low, high), maximum speed (2,400 to 14,400 bps), CSID, and whether to dedicate the line to receive and/or send faxes. We could also automatically print faxes received on the line to our lab printer or back up faxes sent or received on the line to a local or shared file system.Faxmaker includes 16 cover-page styles, all of which are easy to edit. The package also lets you archive sent and received faxes to an Microsoft Access database on a network share. That's useful, because reporting is limited to successful or failed fax transmissions.

GFI Faxmaker 12. GFI Software USA, (888) 243-4329, (919) 379-3397. www.gfi.com

Biscom's submission included a fax server and a suite of tools for Windows. It tied Captaris in scoring for overall features and, unfortunately, came with the same type of Exchange connector. Biscom provided a snappy Web client for sending and receiving faxes via HTTP, but we had to install Office components on the server to enable server-side translation of commonly used files in the enterprise. Management and administration is accomplished by an MMC (Microsoft Management Console) snap-in module.

We installed the Biscom Faxcom Server and the Suite for Windows without difficulty. The server and the suite were designed for a distributed environment. You can install multiple servers to implement load balancing, fail-over, clustering, and/or LCR. The server component handles fax board configuration and services, such as dialing details and DID routing. It also enabled our Exchange server as an SMTP server (Exchange Server) and implemented our Active Directory for authentication using an LDAP connector. After supplying the Base DN (cn=Users,dn=fax,dn=nwc,dn=com), we used Active Directory to require authenticated users to send faxes to queues.

The Faxcom Suite for Windows implements fax services for dedicated Faxcom clients on Windows desktops, Exchange and SMTP users, and Web clients that send and receive faxes using the Web. In a nutshell, we needed to set up and configure connectors for each of these services. For dedicated Faxcom clients, we created a Faxcom queue for users to connect to the server and created a set up package that installs the Faxcom client on the desktop. Creating the queue and the setup file was done in one easy step.Connecting the fax server to Exchange was familiar. We could set up the Exchange connector or use an SMTP Gateway and a default Faxcom queue to channel e-mail-to-fax services. We did both. The Exchange connector was similar to Captaris' connector. Although it did not require a schema update, it placed a new file structure on the Exchange server to handle queues. The SMTP connector or gateway required no software or configuration on the Exchange server.

We also created a Web site for clients on the same server as my Windows Suite. This was easy enough. In IIS 5, we created and configured a Faxcom client Web site. Then we integrated the service with LDAP to enable domain users to access fax services with their user IDs and passwords.

Biscom uses databases provided by Exchange 5.5, Active Directory, LDAP, Domino and NDS for fax services. The package comes with extensive alarm events and installs performance objects for Windows Performance Monitor to track RX/TX fax ports and RX/TX pages/hour. And, unique to this round-up, Biscom's Qdoctor application (short for Quarantine Doctor) enables access to quarantined faxes that meet configurable criteria for junk or spam faxes.

Faxcom Server 5.5 and Faxcom Suite for Windows 5.5. Biscom, (800) 477-2472, (978) 250-1800. www.biscom.com

Captaris refreshed its Rightfax code from version 8.7 to 9 just before we closed the doors on this review. As with Castelle's product, it was easy to perform a one-way synchronization to import users into the system. And like Biscom's server, Rightfax gives end users many fax options on the desktop. But Rightfax's Exchange connector was difficult to implement and its price was not as competitive as our front runners.Besides the installation tools, the Rightfax CD contains some handy administrative tools, such as Fax Report to organize and present data on users, faxes, and dialing rules stored in a Microsoft SQL database. If you don't have a SQL database at hand, Captaris supplies an MSDE SQL database (version 2.7 SP1A). The full capabilities of the server depend on your product licensing. We tested the enterprise server version.

During installation, we configured an SMTP host, set the default IIS user account and installed the Enterprise Fax Manager Web edition and Web access for users. Both Web components require .Net Framework 1.1. That was included with the installation. We also enabled a mail-to-fax gateway right out of the box.

The e-mail gateway linked the Rightfax server to my Exchange server using a dedicated user mailbox (RFAX). All we needed at install was the user identification and the password. The server periodically checked the account using POP3 and processed messages found there as fax requests. Hint: You need to enable the POP3 service on your Exchange box. By default, the service is disabled.

Once the e-mail gateway service was up, users could send mail to "/fax= /name=" . The information in quotes was not interpreted as part of the message. It was descriptive. The message was delivered to the RFAX mailbox, popped by the Rightfax server and processed as an outgoing fax. When fax destination information is not found as part of the information in an address that precedes that @ sign, the Rightfax gateway service will scan the descriptive information for an outgoing fax number and recipient information.

Like other servers in this round-up, the Rightfax server manages network print queues, converts outgoing faxes, and routes them, with or without LCR (least-cost routing). The server also provides queue management, database management, and fax board services. To enable Active Directory synchronization and connect to the Exchange system, we created and enabled services and edited the configuration of a Workserver module.Workserver modules perform CPU-intensive functions for the server, such as print-to-fax conversions and automatic printing for inbound faxes. The enterprise edition came with three Workservers. Like fax board services, they can be distributed to remote servers for load balancing.

To import users into the system, we configured a Workserver to synchronize with Active Directory. By default, Workservers include a number of input and output services for faxes, including printers, scanners and OCR (optical character resolution). All you have to do is configure them and enable them. We created another service for Active Directory synchronization. The tool let us authorize a domain user to access Active Directory and select the domains, organizational units, and groups to synchronization. We let it run continuously, but if changes to your Active Directory are infrequent you can set this to run hourly or daily.

The synchronization tool required a schema update and installed two Captaris profiles for synchronization: a Windows and an Exchange profile. Once that was done, we selected one of the Exchange profile to synchronize users and completed the configuration. After the Workserver restarted, the domain users appeared as user objects set for inbound fax-to-mail routing and notifications. Various security rules also can be applied to prevent administrative access and bypassing billing code verification, for example.

Installing the Exchange connector required a schema update. It also created a new file structure on the Exchange server to manage and monitor. We recommend sticking with the e-mail gateway service that runs right out of the box. It works like a charm and is not limited to your Outlook e-mail clients. Any e-mail client can use the mail-to-fax service by sending a message with the correct syntax to the fax mailbox (RFAX in my case).

Captaris includes an Rightfax print driver for Windows to fax documents from the desktop and a Faxutil tool to manage incoming and outgoing faxes. It also supplies a MAPI and VIM (Vendor Independent Messaging) print drivers that convert mail attachments to fax images for mailing.RightFax Enterprise Suite 9. Captaris, (520) 320-7070. www.captaris.com

Esker Fax works in a centralized or distributed model and can be managed remotely using an MMC snap-in along with a remote queue manager. Post installation, Esker Fax requires a number of steps to enable connectors or services for uses to send and receive faxes from Outlook, Internet mail clients, dedicated desktop clients, and Windows print-to-fax drivers. But its Web client is an add-on module and its Exchange connector requires a schema update on the Exchange Server like Captaris.

A SAP DB-MySQL database maintains data on users, address books and fax jobs. Esker Fax provides an LDAP address book as the default choice for authenticating users; you can also use an LDAP address book from Exchange, Active Directory, Netscape or Novell. Users also can be imported to the local address book from any LDAP directory or ODBC-compliant database. We found it easy enough import domain users into the database, apply security and routing policies.

From a roof-top view, users send documents and delivery tasks to the Esker platform through configurable connectors installed on the server. We had to create and configure each connector to get communication going. We started out with a Lanfax connector for dedicated Lanfax manager clients to send fax requests from Windows desktops and then set up a printer connector to direct some incoming faxes to the Lexmark network printer in the Lab. We worked our way up to the Exchange and the Internet Mail connector.

The Exchange connector is actually two connectors. One installs on the Esker server and the other on the Exchange server or the server running your Exchange Administrator console. Since we administered Exchange on my Exchange server that became my connecting point. We created an Eskerfax user with an Exchange mailbox so the Esker platform could route inbound messages to the Exchange system. Then we created a MAPI profile on the Esker platform to access the Eskerfax mailbox. Yes, that means running an Outlook client on a server platform. Get over it.We configured the Exchange connector on the Esker platform by entering the server address type as "Exchange" and choosing a routing method such as DID, Exchange mail account, or another parameter for mail such as name or department. We selected the mail account and then moved to installing the connector on the mail server.

To install and run the connector on the Exchange server, we gave the Eskerfax user the server administrator rights to install, configure and run the connector. We used my Domain Administrator account to update the schema to accommodate the connector in a separate installation. Once we installed the connector from the CD-ROM, the Esker Fax service, gateway and address templates were installed along with address templates for Outlook and snap-ins for administration. We configured the connector to access the Esker server, added e-mail notifications for service-related events and started the service. After all that, we could use Outlook to send faxes using a special syntax in the To field: "[ESKERFAX:faxnumber@Name@Company]" or select an Outlook contact using the Business Fax Address. Luckily, you may only need to do this once because Esker Fax has a nifty utility to backup and restore the server configuration if disaster strikes.

The Internet Mail connector was much easier to use than the Exchange connector. If you have Linux and Mac clients in your enterprise, this one is worth the effort. One right-click on the MMC console creates a connector. We added the IP address of an Internet mail server to use as the gateway for all messages and notifications. The connector included multiple options to incorporate the message body of an e-mail as an attachment, set notifications like return message on failure or success, and limit access to registered users to implement spam-prevention policy. In minutes, Internet mail users could send the server fax requests and receive notifications as well as inbound faxes in their mailbox.

Esker Fax includes the server platform, the Microsoft Exchange and Internet Mail connector, dedicated desktop fax clients, software for Outlook and other MAPI clients, print-to-fax drivers, and more for $5,000. If you run more than one server in multiple locations, LCR is available for an extra $1,450.

Esker Fax 3.5. Esker Software, (800) 343-7070, (405) 624-8000. www.esker.comCastelle's submission was the only appliance solution in this round-up. The Faxpress Premier came in a shiny red box with the operating system, fax boards, drivers and fax server software pre-installed and ready to go. It has many of the features and functionality of our Editor's Choice and even provided Web browser access for clients and administration over SSL. But it didn't have external authentication or LDAP support and came with a high sticker price, starting at $8,995.

The FaxPress Premier shipped with an Intel 850-MHz processor, 256 MB of RAM, and Windows 2000 SP4. It included Intel Dialogic Cpi/400b analog fax boards and an Intel Pro/100 Desktop Adapter for network connectivity. To support DID, you need a PBX or third-party device, such as Exacom's DID Interface Module

Faxmain, the Windows desktop client for administrators and users, was the most tidy and full-featured interface in the round-up. It provided a view of server processes and services for administrators and fax management tools for users in one window. We liked sending fax requests from that same window. Standard users do not see the administrator's folder.

It was clumsy to work remotely from the server and view diagnostic files. We could easily turn on trace diagnostics, but to view them we had to download them to the local PC and unzip the file. Managing fax queues, reordering priority faxes and configuring services was much easier. As with Esker Fax, we could also backup and restore the server configuration from the Faxmain interface.

FaxPress Premier has the best utility to archive fax data to a network storage system. It uses a Microsoft Access database file. In the alternative, Microsoft SQL or another ODBC-compliant database is supported but you will need your own license. Faxmain creates the MDF file and secures it with a password. From here, the system can archive all sent and received faxes and transaction logs in DCX, TIFF or PDF format. Encrypting archived faxes is also an option for the "secure" mind. Once the configuration was complete, we enabled the archive and users could view it at by clicking on their Archive folder and entering the password.We moved to the folder labeled "Embedded Services" to enter domain information and perform a periodic one-synchronization to get users up on the system. In the alternative, we also ran a tool installed with Faxmain to import users from an Outlook address book. The tool used my MAPI profile to bring up contacts from which we could select uses and import them with a standard role: guest, supervisor, or user.

The Embedded Services folder also contained e-mail gateway configurations for generic SMTP and a Microsoft Exchange Connector using SMTP or MAPI. As with Esker Fax, Outlook was needed on the Premier server to enable a MAPI connector to the Exchange system. After we installed Outlook on the Premier, we created a MAPI profile to login to Exchange. Then we completed the e-mail gateway configuration in Faxmain for mail-to-fax functionality. We could have supplied black- and whitelists for spam-to-fax services, too.

Castelle includes a good selection of standard reports, drag-and-drop to fax directories to support third-party applications, workflow parameters to approve outgoing faxes, and CIF (Castelle Internet Fax). CIF implements LCR for multiple Premiers in the enterprise. If you're looking for a top-flight, no fuss fax server solution FaxPress Premier is make a good choice.

FaxPress Premier Analog 3.0.1. Castelle, (800) 28-7555, (408) 852-8000. www.castelle.com

Copia supplied the best round of tools to automate fax services and to troubleshoot server-side problems. It included extensive event monitoring, server logs, and tracing options. But directory and e-mail integration was limited and it required a number of utilities to manage services.The system includes a server engine, fax board driver support, and workstation client software. The entire system can run on the same Windows NT or 2000 (Professional or Server) machine or it can be distributed to separate machines. Although the server engine, fax boards drivers, and clients require a Windows platform, files not directly related to fax board operation can exist on an NFS or Novell file system. For example, I distributed client software and shared files on an NFS share exported from a Linux server.

During installation, the FFHWL.EXE application specifies the hardware configuration of the system and enables specific features, such as DID routing, fax mail, and mail merge to fax. After you read a license disk, the installation will copy files to the server. Then a server configuration (SERFCONF) runs to complete the install and save shared path names to configuration, user and INI files. We also installed the client files (FFClient v. 7.020) on the server to test incoming and outgoing faxes from a GUI.

Once I confirmed fax services were running from the server console, I distributed client software from the NFS share, and clients could immediately use the system. Simple as that. As with all the products we tested, we could easily fax from Windows application--in this case, using the FaxFacts Fax Client Printer--and send a document with a cover sheet to the fax engine. But it will take you a little longer to appreciate this product's real strength in automating fax services.

The FaxFacts server communicates with client workstations through a shared file system. Fax queues are folders on the system that process faxes or control files created in a variety of ways. This makes it easy to generate a fax using a text file, mail merges to fax output, and faxing from CGI or Perl script output launched from a Web page. This goes beyond the scope of this review but it's certainly worth investigating for fax-centric enterprises.

End users running client software or another utility can receive faxes directly to their mailboxes on the shared drive when an inbound fax routing scheme like DID is used or they can have inbound faxes sent to a local printer or e-mailed to them. When an inbound routing scheme is not used, fax mail is received to a central mailbox where they can be viewed and routed to individual mail boxes.The local database imported address books from Exchange and Outlook using an ODBC connector. ADO (Active Data Object) connectors are also supported. Security was limited to levels set in an initialization (INI) file. We could limit users to viewing their own fax jobs and require the presence of an authorization file to run applications. The authorization file defined and restricted program functionality.

Based on my experience with the other products in this round-up, it was easy enough to configure an Exchange connector to redirect fax traffic to the server for mail-to-fax service. Copia is currently modifying its native connector so its product also can send fax-to-mail service back through that same gateway.

FaxFacts 7.1. Copia International, (800) 689-8898, (630) 388-6900. www.copia.com

Sean Doherty is a technology editor and lawyer based at our Syracuse University Real-World Labs®. A former project manager and IT engineer at Syracuse University, he helped develop centrally supported applications and storage systems. Write to him at [email protected].

Long live the hard copy and its useful transporter, the fax. Whether you need a motion filed, a job accepted or a document signed, fax technology is the cheapest, easiest way to get it. With a standard PC, fax server software and an intelligent fax board, a simple phone call transmits your document with a mouse click.For this Affordable IT article, we tested fax servers from Biscom, Captaris, Castelle, Copia International, Esker Software, FaxCore and GFI Software. Because the technology is mature, all received high marks. Two packages--FaxCore 4370 and GFI Faxmaker--tied for first place on our Report Card. We gave the FaxCore 4370 our Editor's Choice award because of its superior Web-based administration and pain-free LDAP integration. GFI Faxmaker, meanwhile, has the added bonus of an ultralow price.

Other 'Affordable IT' Articles:

• "Budget Beaters"

• "Choosing a Mail Route"

• "Who's Got Your Back?"Fax servers can route incoming faxes automatically, but they need help from the fax board and your local telephone service. First, you must subscribe to a line with a direct-inward dialing channel from your local telephone service. Next, you must purchase a fax board that supports DID.

As the name indicates, DID supports inbound faxes. It can supply automatic routing for faxes to an identified recipient within a multiuser fax system by assigning a range of telephone numbers to a single phone line. For example, let's say Network Computing had a range of numbers from 727-1000 to 727-1050 for fax calls. When any number in the range is available and a line with a DID channel is idle, the telephone company uses the line and transmits the last few digits of the number to your DID-enabled fax board or a PBX that sends the call on to your fax board. The fax board then detects these digits to determine which number is dialed and passes the information to fax server software that matches the number with unique user identifications to deliver the fax to a file store, printer or other output device.

If 50 fax numbers correspond to 50 individual users, each user can have a dedicated fax telephone number using only one line with a DID channel. But note that if the line is busy receiving a fax for one user, calls to other users will get a busy signal. The number of lines you subscribe to will depend on the number of simultaneous fax calls placed to your enterprise. And since DID lines are one-way (inbound), you need one or more loop-start telephone interfaces to send outbound faxes simultaneously.

We tested the software fax servers on dual Intel Pentium III servers with 1,024 MB of RAM running Windows 2000 or 2003. Each server had a Brooktrout TR114 fax board with one loop-start and one DID channel. Castelle's FaxPress Premier was the only hardware-based solution. The device came with its own Windows 2000 operating system and 256 MB of RAM with Intel Dialogic/GammaFax fax boards.

Because DID is implemented as a line service by telephone providers and relies on fax-board support, we did not test the servers' inbound-routing capabilities. Instead, we focused our testing on e-mail and directory integration and the products' abilities to send outbound faxes from dedicated clients, e-mail clients and Web clients.We used Spirent's Abacus (Advanced Bulk Call Simulator) 5.3 software to generate and receive faxes from the servers using an Abacus 1 platform. The Abacus included an XCG (Exchange) subsystem that made it easy to connect the servers directly to the Abacus 1 without a telephone-line simulator. We also used a Northeast Innovations' Telephone Central Office Simulator (Model 1040A) to connect the fax servers to each other to send and receive faxes.

To test integration, we included each server in an Active Directory domain running an Exchange 2003 server. We looked to integrate AD for user and address-book management, to import users, and for sending and receiving faxes from Windows applications, Outlook and other e-mail clients.

R E V I E W

Fax Servers

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