[November 2, 2000]
Fax Over IP: An Enhanced Service For
Profit
By YVES OHAYON
If you're a decision maker working for one of today's
telecommunications service providers, you may have already considered
adding Fax over IP (FoIP) capability to your infrastructure. If you have
written off the idea, figuring the solution too costly, you might want to
think again. Chances are you already own the basis of a low-cost Internet
fax solution that can generate valuable revenue for your corporation.
FoIP is the method for delivering faxes over private or public Internet
Protocol (IP) networks, rather than over the traditional public switched
telephone network (PSTN). With FoIP, users send faxes as they normally do.
However, before transmission, the fax is converted into data packets and
sent over an IP backbone to another fax gateway at a local Internet
Service Provider (ISP). The data packets are converted back into a fax
image at this local point of presence (POP). From there, the fax is routed
onto the PSTN for the equivalent of a local call to the receiving party.
Because transmission of data over the Internet is less expensive than
transmission over the PSTN, FoIP offers tremendous cost savings to service
providers, their corporate customers, and to their retail subscribers -- especially for international delivery. Beyond cost savings, Internet
faxing enhances users' messaging capabilities and paves the way for next
generation IP-based unified messaging services.
Recognizing such advantages, service providers have stepped up FoIP
deployment in recent years. For example, industry analyst firm
International Data Corporation predicted that the IP fax services market
will grow worldwide from $20 million in 1997 to $2 billion in 2002.
Still, service providers have been reluctant to embrace FoIP
for a variety of reasons. For starters, real-time faxing over networks
also used for Voice over
IP (VoIP) requires a high quality of service (QoS) that cannot
always be guaranteed today. Plus, some service providers mistakenly
believe they must deploy expensive real-time VoIP network-based fax
solutions which usually rely on the ITU T.38 standard or any of a number of
proprietary solutions. They are wary of this alternative since customers
must have a T.38 or proprietary device, and it could take years before such
devices become prevalent.
Another challenge hindering real-time VoIP fax deployment is that enhanced services such as FoIP are often considered separate from basic
Internet dial-up service. Thus, many ISPs believe that complicated,
time-consuming, and costly deployment of a new network to carry such
services must take place before they can offer FoIP.
However, service providers can easily forgo such conclusions. A
valuable tool for adding new revenue sources may be right under their
noses, or right in their data centers. Indeed, Internet fax is a
value-added service that ISPs are ideally positioned to offer since they
can leverage their existing remote access equipment and customer Internet
access connections for deployment of an enhanced store-and-forward (as
opposed to real-time) fax service. Remote access concentrator
vendors have long included fax modulation capability into remote access
modems, even before the notion of IP faxing became commonplace. As a
result, deployment of IP faxing usually requires only a simple software
upgrade to existing remote access concentrator equipment and installation
of IP fax servers in POPs.
Unlike real-time fax networks, software-based IP faxing does much more
than simply redirect fax traffic from the PSTN to IP networks. Because
faxes are converted into digital packets, they can be stored and forwarded
when it's convenient, avoiding busy signals and peak traffic times.
Therefore, an array of enhanced services is available, including
least-cost routing, off-peak transmission, and never-busy fax. Least-cost
routing, for example, generates multiple routing options for each fax job
and manages the entire process either from a local or central location.
This technique ensures delivery from the most cost-effective POP
available. Never-busy fax guarantees fax delivery when the receiving
party's line is free to accept the call.
IP faxing easily integrates with corporate e-mail systems,
enabling companies to leverage existing applications such as Lotus Notes
and Microsoft Outlook Exchange. This eliminates the need to train
employees to use an entirely new fax system. It also enables corporations
to add fax capability directly to desktop PCs, drastically reducing the
need for dedicated equipment.
Because software-based Internet faxing requires none of the complicated
setup and configuration associated with real-time faxing, service
providers can utilize their existing equipment right away and quickly reap
the benefits from deployment of enhanced services, including:
- Discounted international faxing: significantly cuts the cost of
transmission for multinational corporations and end users, enabling
service providers to broaden the coverage and geographical boundaries
of their service offerings.
- Fax outsourcing: gives corporate customers a way to easily and cost
effectively deploy IP fax-enabled desktops and fax machines across
company wide networks without adding in-house operations, management,
and training overhead.
- Integrated fax and e-mail services: adds value to basic Internet
access service by streamlining message management and improving
productivity for mobile and remote users.
- Unified messaging: enables one-stop access to e-mail and fax
messages from anywhere in the world using a preferred client device,
including PC, fax machine, or connected personal organizer.
Other value-added services include Web-based faxing and Internet fax
broadcast, capabilities that provide customers with even greater
flexibility and cost savings.
Can an ISP make money in FoIP? Yes. While trying to make money at it in
the short run, ISPs will surely be enhancing their subscribers' online
messaging experience and reducing churn. This not only helps the service
provider make money, it makes good business sense.
Yves Ohayon is the director of Enhanced Services, USA, Canada, Latin
America & Asia Pacific Region, for 3Com
Corporation. 3Com simplifies how people connect to information and
services through easy-to-use, connectivity products and solutions for
consumers and commercial organizations. The company also provides access
infrastructures and IP services platforms for network service providers.
|
