Re: [hylafax-users] What's the best solution

["Josh Welch" <jwelch@buffalowildwings.com>]

From: "Jeremy Fowler"
> Ok, I have a problem and I need to get some opinions. Our current fax
setup is a
> single Linux Box with 4 modems that receive incoming faxes from a hunt
group on
> our Nortel Meridian 1 Option 11C PBX for our one main fax number that
everyone
> uses. Hylafax receives the faxes and emails them to our receptionist to be
> sorted and forwarded. Recently there was a mix-up and someone received a
fax
> they shouldn't have. This upset some VIPs, so now we are looking for a
solution
> so it "never happens again".
It is inevitable that any time something bad happens, those in power need to
pass down
an edict saying to "Never Let It Happen Again". Whether or not this is
possible is
irrelevant. My Sympathies :(

> The idea was thrown out that everyone gets their
> own fax line and then manages their own faxes. Besides being very costly,
I
> think it would be a nightmare to implement. What are our options?  Caller
ID
> and/or TID routing isn't an option since people may use the same external
fax
> machine to fax different people in the office. I have some ideas, but I
don't
> know if it's possible since I'm not a Telco guy and don't have very much
> experience with corporate fax solutions and what products are available.
>
> Ideal solution 1 (probably doesn't exist):
>
> A person faxes to someone here at their normal DID (voice) extension. The
PBX
> auto-detects that the incoming call is a fax and routes it to a digital
fax card
> on our Linux box. Hylafax sees the DID extension that the fax was sent to
and
> looks up the extension in a database to find the email address and happily
sends
> it on it's way. Everyone is happy.
>
> Now I know they have line share devices for normal analog (POTS) lines
that is
> able to detect whether an incoming call is a voice or fax and route it to
the
> appropriate device. However, the Telco guy that administers our PBX
doesn't
> think there is such a device for digital systems. Has anyone heard of
anyone
> doing something similar?
Number one doesn't sound so good. If you could get some form of hardware for
your
PBX that would sense the incoming fax call, and be able to pass the call,
along with the
DID information in question, to HylaFAX, then you'd be good to go. This
magical
piece of your PBX could be hard to come by however.

> Ideal solution 2 (probably another long shot):
>
> We provision another set of DID numbers for everyone in the office for use
as
> incoming fax lines. Anything that comes in on those DIDs are forwarded to
some
> type of digital fax card running on our Linux box. The card tells Hylafax
what
> DID number the call came in on and thus forwards it to the appropriate
person.
> The card doesn't need to handle 80+ inbound calls at once, but should be
able to
> tell what DID it was meant for. Meaning, the card should have about 10-20
ports
> it can use at any one time and an incoming fax will use the next available
port
> on the card.
Considerably more likely. What you would need would be your 80 DIDs, ISDN
line incoming, the cooperation of your local telco to provide the DID
reporting, an
ISDN card which works with HylaFAX, a little time and patience, and voila.
This will
not be a cheap solution, but it is doable. I believe that the Eicon DIVA
cards have
been reported to work well in this application. I have not done this, but
looked into
it for our own setup. When I gave my boss the price tag, it was quickly shot
down.
If there is a hard core push for this, there is now a commercial provider of
HylaFAX
support that you can consult with, email sales@hylafax.org if you want to go
that way.
Otherwise, check the mailing list archives for DID and/or DNIS, it should
turn up
some hits for you.
BTW, if anyone who has done this is feeling generous, this would probably
make a
great topic for a how-to. The question comes up often enough.

HTH
Josh


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