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Fax-over-IP (FoIP) is one of the popular applications of IP communcations. However, there are several operational challenges with IP Fax, particularly associated with the conversion of T.30 data into T.38 data for transmission and then converting that T.38 data back into T.30 data for reception.  

In response, babyTEL , Copia International, and Commetrex (News - Alert) have now formed a partnership to develop a new technology called "Active-Active Redundancy," which aims to deliver higher-availability for FoIP.

The new FoIP solution combines technologies from each of the three partners. While babyTEL will provide T.38 real-time FoIP access  and carrier services, Copia will provide the fax server (CopiaFacts) technology. Commetrex, meanwhile, will supply its BladeWare HMP telephony platform on which CopiaFacts is based.

The new combined technology, the companies claim, delivers inbound availability for FoIP in excess of 99.999 percent. It can also be used for voice over (VoIP) services.

The process runs as follows: The babyTEL service delivers an incoming call to two or more redundant Copia servers, after which babyTEL acknowledges the first-arriving call acceptance and cancels the other. 

To  determine whether to answer a call immediately or wait, CopiaFacts will utilize a special feature from Commetrex added to BladeWare, which delivers calls to client applications in either the alerting or connected state. 

“In this application, each server will be assigned to immediately accept either odd- or even-numbered calls, delaying acceptance of the other half, which, of course, are immediately accepted by the other server, guaranteeing that each server receives half the calls.  If one of the servers goes off line, all calls will be awarded to the remaining on-line server, half of them immediately, half in 200-milliseconds," explained Mike Coffee, Commetrex' CEO.

With this technology, babyTEL is able to deliver call-completion rates exceeding that of comparable services over legacy networks using the industry-standard T.38 real-time fax over the Internet, Hersee said.

"High-Availability deployments have been available for some time, but they have been extremely complex to develop and deploy,” said Steve Hersee, CEO of Copia International, in a statement. “This one, in spite of the complexities introduced by three companies working together, is as simple to deploy as adding one more server."

Hersee added, "Customers can ensure their mission-critical telephony applications will continue to work in the face of component malfunction, natural disaster, or a software failure. The solution also addresses business continuity needs for disaster recovery when deployed in a geographically diverse configuration."