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Description and Architecture

Article ID: 70
Last updated: 21 Dec, 2021

Traditional manual faxes are out of date.

Digital Fax is a complete software solution including a robust fax server based on Imagicle unique Fax to IP driver, able to interoperate directry with the PBX trough Voip comminication.

A professional fax server grants substantial savings and it improves customer service and company image; the process of sending a fax is faster and incoming faxes are automatically integrated with today's web and email-based workflow.

Digital Fax delivers a complete IP fax server solution, allowing users to send and receive faxes directly from any email client or through a dedicated web interface.

Digital Fax can be seamlessly integrated with any e-mail server using standard SMTP/IMAP-POP3 protocols without enforcing specific infrastructure requirements.

Digital Fax can automatically route incoming faxes in TIFF/PDF formats to each user's mailbox and personal web interface, picking out the right recipient by the Called Line Identifier (also known as "extension") or by the line on which the fax was received.

This enables users to check faxes from anywhere in the world using either:

  • A traditional desktop email client (i.e.: Outlook, Lotus Notes...). This is the Email to Fax feature
  • A web browser (Edge, Chrome, Firefox,...). This is the Web To Fax feature

To send a fax, each user can either:

  • Create it as a new message in his/her email client, the Email To Fax feature
  • Upload a document via web through a dedicated web page, the Web To Fax feature
  • Directly print from any application to the Digital Fax network printer, the Print To Fax feature

After the fax is sent, the user receives a transmission report in his/her inbox.

Digital Fax automatically manages the outgoing queue, trying to send the fax again if it not succeeded.

Together with the other units of the Application Suite, Digital Fax completes the Unified Messaging Solution for Cisco Unified Communication.

Architecture

Digital Fax can be used as an Email To Fax gateway together with any SMTP/POP3 or IMAP mail server, allowing users to send and receive faxes directly by their email client. Special email system will be discussed later (MS Outlook). In order to set up this feature, you must create a dedicated mailbox on the mail server, from which Digital Fax will fetch the faxes that will be sent out.

Digital Fax needs an email server to:

  • Download emails sent by the users to a specified account (ex. fax@company.com) with the file to be faxed (this is the Outgoing faxes - POP3 behavior)
  • Notify each user of incoming faxes via email with the fax as attachment (this is the Incoming faxes - SMTP behavior). See the Receive a fax section for further details on how let users receive a fax

This is the architecture of the Email To Fax behaviour:

Users send emails to a specified recipient (for instance: fax@company.com), specifying the fax recipient number in the subject field and attaching the file to be faxed.

Multiple recipients and multiple attachments are supported.

Digital Fax must be configured with the designated IMAP/POP3 account (in our example: fax@company.com) and the polling interval for email checking.

Digital Fax downloads the email and converts the attached file to a fax by printing it to a graphic file. This will be queued to be sent to the specified recipient number.

Note: Digital Fax can send many faxes at the same time, limited only by the number of avaliable lines and license channels. Even if many channels are free, faxes addressed to the same recipient number will always start one after the other. This means that the second fax will start only when the first has been sent or it has exhausted its retries.

When the fax has been processed, Digital Fax notifies the sender with a return receipt in his/her mailbox.

This is the architecture for the incoming faxes:

Digital Fax is receiving a fax for a specific number. Digital Fax manages the dnis (called number) and ani (caller number) to pick out the user to whom the fax is addressed to (see User configuration).

Digital Fax notifies the user by email of a received fax. It can also attach the received fax.

To enable email forwarding capabilities, please double check that a fax email address has been configured for such that users. This address is exclusive to the fax. Although it can be the same of the user ordinary e-mail address, it is to be entered in a different field.

Article ID: 70
Last updated: 21 Dec, 2021
Revision: 5
Views: 8961
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