FAX Messaging

FAX Messaging combines the send and receive capabilities of a stand-alone fax machine or fax modem on a PC with the many capabilities of INTUITY AUDIX voice messaging.

Topics include:

• Capabilities
• Requirements
• Operation
• Planning Considerations

Capabilities

When you purchase INTUITY AUDIX LX Release 1, Fax Messaging is automatically available.

Fax Messaging dialing capabilities include:

• The INTUITY AUDIX TUI interface for addressing fax destinations, for printing faxes from a mailbox, or for setting fax related mailbox options.
• Failed fax message delivery notification.
• A Graphical User Interface (GUI) interface on Message Manager for addressing to a fax destination.
• A Web User Interface (WUI) interface on www.messenger for addressing to a fax destination.

With Fax Messaging users can:

• Create and send a fax to an INTUITY AUDIX, Message Manager subscriber, or email recipient or broadcast a fax to multiple recipients in the same manner as a voice message is sent.
• Receive faxes in their mailboxes.
• Print fax messages from their mailboxes to a fax machine, a PC with a fax modem, a LAN printer, or a fax-enabled system such as another INTUITY AUDIX system.
• Administer their mailboxes to scan incoming messages and automatically print faxes when they are received.
• Administer their mailboxes to automatically delete a fax message after it is printed.

Fax as a Secondary Extension

For subscribers who receive a high volume of faxes, the system administrator can create a phantom extension on the switch to which fax calls are directed. The second extension is forwarded to AUDIX so that the subscriber has two extensions but only one�mailbox.

The primary extension is administered for call answer, personal greetings, and other messaging services. The secondary fax extension provides only a brief greeting that reveals the subscriber's name and invites the caller to leave a fax. Voice messages cannot be recorded at this secondary extension, nor can other subscribers address messages to it.

Guaranteed Fax

The Guaranteed Fax provides coverage for busy or out-of-service fax machines, such as a stand-alone fax machine or a fax modem on a PC. If the fax machine is unavailable, Guaranteed Fax redirects the fax to a different mailbox for temporary storage.

Guaranteed Fax can be administered as a secondary extension or as an ordinary subscriber:

• Secondary extension

When Guaranteed Fax is administered as a secondary fax extension, the mailbox is treated as a printer. Voice messages, file attachments, and email components of incoming calls are ignored. The fax data is recorded and the fax machine is tried repeatedly until the fax can be delivered. No other messaging features are available on a secondary fax extension.

• Ordinary subscriber

When Guaranteed Fax administered as an ordinary subscriber, the fax machine is treated as an INTUITY AUDIX extension. For example, a fax can be sent directly to the fax machine's extension as a message to the INTUITY AUDIX. On the other hand, voice messages sent to this mailbox (for example, as attachments to forwarded fax messages) remain in the mailbox.

Guaranteed Fax must be administered by a system administrator. For information on administering Guaranteed Fax, see Administering Guaranteed Fax.

Requirements

Other than a fax machine (or a printer for subscribers with Message Manager or an integrated email system), no additional hardware or software is required to use Fax Messaging capabilities.

If subscribers use Fax Messaging extensively, it is recommended that additional voice ports and hours of speech storage be purchased. The storage requirements of a fax page depends on the image content of the page as well as its resolution. A page that contains graphics requires more space in a subscriber's mailbox than a page that does not contain graphics.

The following rule is generally useful when you are doing subscriber planning for Fax Messaging:

• One standard-resolution textual fax page is equivalent to a voice message of from 20 to 30 seconds. One fine-resolution fax page is equivalent to a voice message of from 40 to 60 seconds.

To apply this rule to an actual business setting, consider a company with 100 employees, all administered on the same INTUITY AUDIX system. If 40 of those employees receive five two-page standard-resolution faxes per day, the system has to be capable of storing an additional 130 to 200 hours of speech per day. Also, while some subscribers delete the fax message after printing (subscribers can administer their mailboxes to print and delete faxes automatically), others forward the fax message, complete with voice annotation.

Operation

Fax Messaging enables a subscriber to control the creation, sending, receiving, and printing of faxes from the telephone. If a subscriber has Message Manager or uses Internet Messaging to integrate AUDIX with an email application, faxes can also be viewed on a PC.

Instead of physically checking the fax machine to see if a fax has come in, subscribers can dial their AUDIX mailboxes or click an icon on their PC screens.

Fax Call Delivery

A fax message can be directed to any of the following locations:

• A stand-alone fax machine
• An individual PC fax modem
• A shared LAN multipoint fax server
• A fax port on a fax-enabled messaging system such as a fax-enabled INTUITY AUDIX system at another location

Networking

With Fax Messaging, networking is extended to support networking of fax messages. Subscribers can achieve more efficient communications by combining the fax feature with networking. For example, a fax broadcast sent by networking is transmitted only once but can be received by several people. Compare this capability to fax broadcast—a traditional fax broadcast that requires an outbound telephone call for each recipient. INTUITY networking reduces outbound fax port usage and transmits messages at a higher speed.

Creating and Sending a Fax

By using the telephone keypad of a fax machine, subscribers can create and send messages containing just a fax component, or they can also include a voice component.

Subscribers can use the full mailing list and addressing capabilities of the messaging feature. By sending a fax to their AUDIX mailboxes, subscribers annotate fax messages with a voice message and broadcast the combined voice and fax message to a mailing list.

A fax message can be marked as priority and/or private, scheduled for later delivery or stored in the subscriber's INTUITY AUDIX mailbox "file cabinet."

Following fax transmission, the AUDIX application ends the session by hanging up.

Receiving a Fax

The INTUITY AUDIX receives an incoming fax in a manner similar to the way it receives other calls. When a fax tone is received, the INTUITY AUDIX records the incoming fax, sends it to the subscriber's mailbox, and notifies the subscriber, through the message-waiting indicator, that a fax has been received.

Retrieving and Printing a Fax

Subscribers retrieve and print faxes through their telephones or PCs if their systems are equipped with Message Manager or the Internet Messaging product integrated with an email application.

From the telephone, subscribers can print a fax to a default print destination or to another fax machine. Subscribers can also set the Fax Messaging capability to automatically print new faxes to a default print destination when faxes are received.

From their PCs, subscribers can view faxes and print faxes if the options are properly administered for their email application or from Message Manager.

Planning Considerations

Fax Messaging uses the same voice ports and message storage as the INTUITY AUDIX system. Fax Messaging increases the number of voice ports and the hours of speech that the system needs to operate effectively.

Contact an account representative to determine the optimal configuration of software and hardware to meet your current needs and future plans.

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