GFI FAXmaker for Exchange

Fax Routing

One of the obvious issues when implementing a fax server solution is how the fax server software knows which mailbox to route a fax to upon receipt. GFI FAXmaker for Exchange supports six different methods of routing faxes to an appropriate mailbox. While each method has associated advantages and disadvantages, support for the various methods provides the maximum flexibility possible. The six methods include:

CSID – When any fax machine sends a fax, it includes a Caller Sender Identification (CSID) at the top of the fax. This method is useful for routing messages when all faxes from a particular company are destined for a single user.

DID – If your company has a line with multiple Direct Inward Dial (DID) numbers, each of these virtual numbers can be associated with a user or department, allowing routing to occur based on the DID number the fax was sent to.

DTMF – Dual Tone Multi Frequency is a technique whereby the user sending the fax presses a key combination that represents the user once the call is connected. Although this method is highly scalable, it relies upon a correctly configured PBX or the sender understanding the process.

OCR – Optical Character Recognition (OCR) can also be used to route faxes with FAXmaker for Exchange. When OCR is used for routing, GFI FAXmaker will scan the text looking for names or keywords associated with an account and route the fax accordingly. Unfortunately, this method is only about 70% accurate, and cannot distinguish between users with the same name.

Line – Line routing is a very straightforward method whereby a physical fax line is associated with a user or department. A useful choice for routing faxes as the departmental level, it still requires a dedicated fax line for each recipient, making it impractical for faxing to many individual users.

MSN – MSN routing is used by ISDN only. This method works similar to DID routing, except that it doesn’t require the purchase of individual DID phone numbers. Most ISDN lines support more than one MSN number by default.

Manual – Manual routing is a method very similar to traditional faxing where all faxes are routed to a single internal mailbox or exchange public folder. From here, a designated person would examine and forward all received faxes by email.

Author: Dan DiNicolo

Dan DiNicolo is a freelance author, consultant, trainer, and the managing editor of 2000Trainers.com. He is the author of the CCNA Study Guide found on this site, as well as many books including the PC Magazine titles Windows XP Security Solutions and Windows Vista Security Solutions. Click here to contact Dan.