Don't Rule Out Fax Just Yet Until You Know This...

It comes as no surprise that fax machines are losing their touch. Consider the fact that when more than 7,000 global professionals were asked the question, “What trends do you see disappearing in the next five years?” a whopping 71 percent noted the fax machine. You may now be asking yourself, “Why are you asking me to not rule out fax, then?” The thing is, the traditional fax machine and fax server applications are hardware, which perhaps may be their biggest downfall, and yet we still heavily rely on fax communications to carry out day-to-day business practices. It’s time that this aging technology becomes completely revolutionized. So the real question should be: If you still need or use fax, what are your real alternatives?

Consider the opposite effect of e-mail. While the art of electronically transmitted messages dates back to the 1800s, for the most part, e-mail officially went mainstream in the 1980s and ‘90s. Most importantly, it’s still a heavily relied upon form of communication today without having changed any of its basics. Back in June, Google (News - Alert) revealed in a blog post that Gmail had acquired 425 million active users world-wide – an impressive increase of 75 million users from its reported 350 million only six months ago in January 2012. At the end of the day, all that matters is that you successfully send your message fast and easily.

What if I said that you could have the same old traditional fax you’ve come to know and love but in a different kind of packaging? That’s exactly what you get with Fax over IP, or Fax VoIP (FoIP). It seems that fax technology has taken somewhat of a back seat to e-mail, but Fax VoIP let’s you combine the two for unmatched benefits. The only difference is that it uses data protocols in replacement of voice codec, which means it’s using the same method that you find in traditional fax, but uses packet switching for delivery. The difference may be slight, but it’s all you need to see the difference.

In a related article, Tammy Wolf writes about how one new form of VoIP fax – Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) – is truly the change fax has been long awaiting. HTTPS is a VoIP fax technology equivalent to TDM faxing, yet only requires one-fifth of the bandwidth of T.38. With this information handy, it’s easy to see why HTTPS becoming a new industry standard.

“While traditional fax machines have their advantages, particularly in the transmission of sensitive material, they have become quite antiquated as Internet-based alternatives come to the forefront. Many of today’s businesses and enterprises have become increasingly dependent on faxing over VoIP, or the process of sending and receiving faxes over an IP network rather than the public telephone network,” Wolf explains.

“However, when implemented as a fax over IP service, faxing has known limitations often due to the T.38 standard, which sometimes produces public Internet burst packet loss and latency, and inconsistencies in performance and connectivity. These issues often observed in fax VoIP have sparked the onset of a new era in faxing, as what’s really needed is a way to connect physical fax machines to services from fax server providers.”

FaxSIPit and AudioCodes (News - Alert) have actually put together a package that leverages AudioCodes Fax ATA and FaxSIPit’s FaxCONNECTit service, which serves as a bridge between the fax machine and cloud fax server – allowing you to go completely IP without losing the benefits of fax. So don’t rule out fax just yet until you’ve discovered HTTPS fax!

To learn more about this ground-breaking fax solution, visit www.faxsipit.com.

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