Cost-savings, flexibility and scalability – these long have been the selling points of Voice over IP, or “VoIP” – Internet-based telephone calling.

 

Internet telephony has penetrated the enterprise market so deeply that, at this point, small- to medium-sized businesses far and away have emerged as the primary targets for VoIP service providers – and under the not-quite-accurate mantra “VoIP Is Dead,” advocates for technologies such as high-definition IP telephony or video-based communications as the “next” phase of communications have come out of the wood work.

 

Yet the rise of VoIP in the enterprise – and the infrastructure it requires – has yielded an interesting and rapidly growing segment in IP communications: Enterprise Fax over IP.

 

To talk about Enterprise Fax-over-IP – its emergence, lure, future and features – we interviewed Matthew Brine, vice president of the fax and document distribution group of  enterprise content management specialist Open Text Corp. (News - Alert)

 

As Brine told us, much of the strength of enterprise Fax-over-IP, or FoIP, is owed to the expansion of VoIP networks.

 

“These data and voice networks are present in almost every office today,” Brine said. “This all means documents, videos, and voice can be sent over a corporate IP network. Organizations with these IP networks can efficiently integrate Open Text Fax Server, RightFax Edition and simplify the process of integrating fax, voice, data and video for business applications.”

 

Brine refers to Open Text’s market leading fax product “Open Text Fax Server, RightFax Edition,” which has sold over 100,000 servers and is helping businesses leverage their investments in unified communications and VoIP.

 

In our interview, we also talked to Brine about the advantages of FoIP, how Open Text helps customers cut costs and the effect that this slower economy has had on the technology’s take-rate.

 

Our exchange follows.

 

 

Matthew Brine: Open Text recognized Captaris as the world’s market leader in fax server and FoIP technology, and how this technology would strengthen Open Text’s ECM leadership position and broaden solutions that integrate with applications from SAP, Oracle (News - Alert) and Microsoft. Today, what was known as RightFax is now branded “Open Text Fax Server, RightFax Edition.” Fax Server is the world’s most widely deployed and used fax server technology. of the Fortune 100 are using Fax Server, RightFax Edition. Every day, our customers rely on Fax Server to securely send millions of business critical documents for point-to-point real-time communications. With the acquisition of Captaris, our customers and partners should see the depth of resources Open Text provides that helps us innovate and support our fax server technology, enabling us to further extend our leadership position. Additionally we are currently strengthening our fax integration with the Open Text ECM Suite. 

 

 

Matthew Brine: We are winning new customers because Open Text Fax Server, RightFax Edition helps our customers leverage their investments in unified communications and VoIP. Our FoIP business is rapidly. With our market leadership, proven technology and track record for supporting FoIP, we are clearly the top choice for organizations or all sizes who want to integrate Fax over IP. Open Text Fax Server delivers clear cost savings through operational efficiency, reduced material costs, and consolidation of standalone fax machines.

 

 

Matthew Brine: Open Text Fax Server, RightFax Edition offers secure point to point and real time communication utilizing Fax-over-IP. With our SecureDocs functionality we can ensure the intended recipient of sensitive documents is the only one who can access the encrypted document. This helps organizations add even more security that may be required to help organizations with their compliance efforts.

 

 

Matthew Brine: Paper is only one cost associated with traditional standalone fax machines. Other costs of traditional fax machines include device leases, maintenance, toner and analog telephone lines. FoIP with Open Text Fax Server provides savings by eliminating the costs and risks associated standalone fax machines. We have proven metrics that demonstrate how much time workers can spend sending and receiving fax documents using Fax Server. FoIP enables the exchange of faxes anywhere on the IP network. Taken together, Open Text Fax Server, RightFax Edition is a very compelling offering to integrate into a VoIP network.

 

Matthew Brine: FoIP is clearly one of the growth areas for fax server technology. VoIP networks are so prevalent it’s a smart decision to find a technology like Open Text Fax Server that easily integrates into that network.As the world leader in fax server and FoIP technology, we are continuing to expand in key fax growth areas including FoIP and our extensive connections with MFP devices. Organizations with these IP networks can efficiently integrate Fax Server and simplify the process of integrating fax, voice, data and video for business applications. 

 

We believe Open Text Fax Server provides our large customer base with best in class technology that adds significant value to their existing content management solutions.