etherFAX, a provider of Fax over Internet Protocol (FoIP) services, announced it has been selected by Flood & Peterson, a leading insurance broker in Rocky Mountain region.

The insurance firm, with three offices located throughout Colorado, was using RightFax fax server to centralize all incoming and outgoing faxes between offices and its customers. This includes maintaining an array of technologies and telephony infrastructure.

The company decided to virtualize its fax operations by leveraging the cloud, so it could avoid the costly components like fax boards and eliminate recurring telephony expenses, yet preserve its current fax server investment.

After weighing the cost and reliability issues associated with T.38 technology along with the implementation and training of moving to a new system, the company decided to upgrade to RightFax 9.4.

However, the RightFax upgrade required an investment in new fax boards and other telephony infrastructure, but Flood & Peterson was not keen to manage the telephony infrastructure in house. They also wanted to deal with the inherent problem associated with FoIP, so they tried another option.

Flood & Peterson was introduced to etherFAX FoIP through TransOptions Messaging Inc. (TMI), a reseller based in Denver. The insurance firm found that etherFAX offers a unique solution that extends existing fax server technology to the cloud.

As etherFAX FoIP leverages Internet to manage all fax communications, it eliminates the need for costly components of a fax server, fax board, and recurring telephony expenses. With the help of TMI, Flood & Peterson installed etherFAX with RightFax and was able to successfully send and receive faxes immediately.

The infrastructure as a service (IaaS) model, leveraging a vast array of virtual ports, allowing Flood & Peterson to securely send and receive high volumes of fax transmissions via the Internet.

“With etherFAX, all of our fax communications are delivered via the cloud,” said Michelle Hoffert, system administrator at Flood & Peterson, in a statement. “What is especially attractive is that there are less moving parts. No telecom carrier, fax boards, etc. are required.”

etherFAX also provides the insurance firm with a built-in disaster recovery solution that did not require any capital investment. “Regarding the company’s business-critical fax operations, etherFAX serves as our own insurance policy and ensures all transmissions will be delivered,” Hoffert added. “This gives our IT group the capability to focus on other projects.”

Back in June, etherFAX announced the release of its Web services software development kit (SDK) designed to help developers incorporate FoIP services into their software applications. The SDK will enable third parties to utilize the etherFAX IaaS model to build out fax services without having to deal with the complications and costs of traditional telephony hardware.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2011, taking place Sept. 13-15, 2011, in Austin, Texas. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. To register, click here.