Facsimile (Fax) communication is still considered as one of the fastest and most reliable modes of communication by many organizations in all verticals. With cloud computing technology catching the trend, etherFAX – a company offering fax services in the cloud – has unveiled its Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Software Development Kit (SDK) that will allow enterprise organizations to cloud-enable their fax applications in a cost-effective manner.
For those unaware, Infrastructure as a Service (Iaas) is like an operating system in the cloud. Being one of the three main categories of cloud computing technology, IaaS facilitates can be used for automated administrative tasks, dynamic scaling, desktop virtualization, and more. With the help of an SDK (a set of software development tools), developers can create applications for a particular platform such as IaaS.
Facilitating organizations to take advantage of the company’s IaaS model to process all fax transmissions via the cloud-based hosted services, etherFAX’s new web services SDK will not only enable them to utilize the company’s cloud-based fax communications platform but also allows third-party developers to build applications using the same foundation.
According to a press release, the new IaaS SDK is ideal for application developers intending to extend fax services to their software applications without the hassle of dealing with telephony hardware and/or infrastructure.
Since its inception in 2009, etherFAX is providing a solution that extends existing fax server technology to the cloud. The etherFAX solution eliminates the need for expensive fax server hardware components, fax board, complex fault tolerance designs, expensive disaster recovery solutions, as well as recurring telephony expenses, because it utilizes the Internet to manage all business-critical fax communications.
In addition, the etherFAX solution also eliminates the complexities and costs of provisioning PRI, T1, and/or analog connections. Users are required to just plug-in on-premise fax server infrastructure to etherFAX to get all fax communications, which will be delivered securely via the cloud.
With the help of its IaaS model, etherFAX utilizes a wide array of virtual ports to make them available to securely send and receive high volumes of fax transmissions.
“We have several customers and fax server developers testing and integrating etherFAX utilizing our API,” said Paul Banco, CEO for etherFAX, in a statement. “Fax communications are very important to a range of industries and our SDK will allow enterprise organizations to cloud-enable their fax applications in a cost-effective manner.”
“We recognize the need to allow our partners and customers’ applications, whether developed commercially or in-house, to utilize our cloud-based fax communications platform,” said Robert Cichielo, CTO, etherFAX, in a statement. “Utilizing the web allows for a more reliable and secure transmission, eliminates the possibility of inherit problems with T.38, and no longer requires organizations to invest in any capital telephony infrastructure.”
Cichielo added, “These web services are the very cornerstone of our own applications and services so third-party developers can rest assured they are building applications using the same foundation as etherFAX’s own products.”
Jayashree Adkoli is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Jayashree's articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Rich Steeves