Fax in Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging
“We now have Exchange 2007 and AD installed and I have been asked to look at Winfax. I think Winfax is quite old now and think that Exchange will allow for faxing of some kind? Do you know much about fax and Exchange and how easy/ good a system there is to receive faxes from fax machines into email accounts?”
Winfax was discontinued by Symantec (formerly Delrina) back in 2006. The closest non-Microsoft alternative would be something like GFi Faxmaker for Exchange/SMTP which supports from five to unlimited users (prices start from $580 and go up to $7,500).
Exchange Server 2007 includes policy engine based on rules that execute on Hub Transport servers. With Transport Rules, administrators can establish regulatory or corporate policies on internal or outbound e-mails, voice mails, or faxes. Also, various corporate retention policies exist for e-mail, voice mail, and fax communications. Faxes can now be stored in the mailbox and accessed from the user’s unified inbox in Outlook, OWA, or their mobile device. Unified Messaging centralises the management of inbound fax services within the Exchange infrastructure.
Please note: In Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging, the fax feature is limited to inbound fax only which is great in itself but I have a feeling GFi FAXmaker also handles sent faxes (anyone know this?). The question is whether you need this functionality or the employees keep saved copies of these documents anyway?
Here is some further light reading on the subject:
Fax in Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging (the comments make interesting reading too and show how to test it)
How to set up the Unified Messaging test phone
Using Exchange Server 2007 for Unified Messaging and fax (podcast)
With regards to using Unified Messaging, all of the versions of Exchange 2007 support the features shown here but they are unlocked according to which Exchange CALs you purchase, in this case you will need to have purchased Exchange Enterprise CALs. Further information on Server editions and CALs can be found here.
Susanne