Many businesses and professionals don’t have the luxury of taking off from work on national holidays. Sometimes, duty demands that business be done, even while on a family vacation. So, for those who find themselves working this extended 4^th of July weekend, IP communications technology can enable you to at least peek at some of the fireworks while hacking away at your laptop.

Of course, many businesses rely on sending and receiving faxes. This traditionally meant that you had to actually be in the office to carry out critical business correspondence. Fax over IP technology, however, uses the Internet to send and receive faxes, as opposed to traditional fax machines, which usually run over analog phone lines. Because of this, Web applications can be built to allow workers to access fax services from anywhere.

For example, FaxCore’s (News - Alert) FoIP pure Web client architecture allows users and administrators to access the FaxCore FoIP server from any location with an Internet connection. The Microsoft (News - Alert) IIS Web application provides a fully functional user interface via only a Web browser, namely Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari. This means that there is no need for client software distribution and installation. Furthermore, the Web application is built on pure HTML and DHTML, requires no Java or Active X, and works over HTTP and HTTPS, making it particularly secure for remote use.

This is good news for a business’s bottom line, as well. Being able to send and receive faxes via a FoIP server or as e-mail addresses saves money on paper, ink, and the phone bill. Recent reports by Davidson Consulting estimate that computer-based faxing saves between 36 and 49 cents per outgoing fax, which over the course of a year can lead to thousands of dollars in savings. Moreover, since receiving a fax to a FoIP server or e-mail address costs basically nothing, companies save double. Add these savings to the fact that faxes sent over IP networks cost about half as much, if that, as those sent using PBX (News - Alert) ports or PSTN lines, and the money saved reaches into the tens of thousands of dollars per year.

So, if you do have to work this holiday weekend, thank IP communications technology, like fax over IP, so that you at least don’t have to spend the day in the office.