Brooktrout TR1034™ Fax Boards
Real-time Fax over IP
Brooktrout Technology’s TR1034 series of intelligent fax boards, with
real-time fax over IP support, provide companies with the ability to integrate a
real-time fax over IP solution with their VoIP network and achieve the same high
level of reliability, robustness and scalability that they’ve come to expect
with Brooktrout’s PSTN-based fax products. Brooktrout's TR1034 has been tested
with FoIP equipment from industry leading providers, including Cisco T.38
gateways, to ensure interoperability.
Brooktrout’s flagship TR1034 series provides customers with the best and most
reliable fax solution on the market today. Now, with the addition of real-time
fax over IP support, the TR1034 offers both an onboard T1 interface for
PSTN-based faxing and an Ethernet interface for IP-based faxing via the T.38
protocol using SIP call control. In this configuration the TR1034 provides
customers with the best of both worlds: it allows customers to run a PSTN fax
solution today and migrate to IP in the future when their IT decision dictates.
White Paper: Brooktrout Technology
and Real-Time Fax Over IP
Abstract: Faxing has traditionally been done in real-time over the
Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), via the T.30 fax protocol and
several modem standards, as defined by the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU). The reasons for the popularity of
real-time circuit-switched fax include the real-time receipt of a fax,
immediate notification that the fax has been successfully sent, and that
the receiver gets information on the sender's telephone number and the
time the fax was received. These features have become essential parts of
the fax experience and have set expectations that will continue to apply
for advances in fax communication, including fax over IP.
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How Does it Work?
The diagram below shows a typical real-time fax over IP implementation with a
TR1034-based fax server sitting behind a Cisco gateway/router that supports SIP
call control.
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| 1. The TR1034-based
fax server is connected to an IP network and transmits the T.30 protocol and
fax image data using T.38 packets over the IP network to the receiving Cisco
gateway/router. |
2. The Cisco
gateway/router, in turn, repackages the T.38 packets into T.30 protocol
signals and transfers them to the receiving fax machine over the PSTN
network. |
3. The receiving fax
machine has a T.30 protocol engine that communicates with the T.30 protocol
engine in the TR1034-based fax server through the Cisco gateway. |
No matter whether faxes are sent in real-time over the PSTN or over IP,
Brooktrout’s rock solid T.30 implementation remains at the heart of the every
fax connection. To guarantee delivery every time, even for calls between two
T.38 endpoint devices, a good T.30 implementation is required. Brooktrout is
recognized as having the best T.30 protocol implementations available on the
market today as a result of more than 10 years experience developing and
supporting intelligent fax boards that are deployed in a wide variety of
enterprise and service provider environments.
Brooktrout’s fax over IP solution also provides peace of mind. With any IP
network, customers need take the appropriate measures to ensure their network is
secure from external attacks from viruses and malicious users. If security from
internal attacks is a concern, the IP network could be configured to use VPNs
between the T.38 endpoint and gateway. With a properly configured IP network in
place, there are no additional security concerns with real-time fax over IP on
the TR1034 series. If a malicious packet penetrated the firewall, it would be
dropped. Brooktrout’s T.30 and T.38 protocols allow only for the transfer of T.4
and T.6 fax images, and not data. Since the TR1034 is dedicated to fax image
processing, it provides an additional level of security over other fax
processing alternatives such as data modems.
The Best Solution on the Market
The TR1034 T1 with real-time fax over IP capability delivers:
- Reliable Faxing from the Market Leader: Brooktrout is the
intelligent fax board market leader with over 73% market share* as a result of
providing tried and true reliable faxing with Brooktrout’s superior T.30
protocol. Brooktrout has continually refined and enhanced its T.30
implementation to a level that is unsurpassed in the industry. And because
almost every real-time fax over IP transmission uses T.30, real-time fax over
IP with Brooktrout’s T.38 will be equally reliable and robust.
- Investment Protection: Purchasing a TR1034 series
intelligent fax board today is a safe investment, as customers can continue to
use their intelligent fax board regardless if their network fax solution is
PSTN or IP based.
- Migration Path to IP: Customers can begin by deploying a
PSTN-based network fax solution and migrate to IP when their IT environment
dictates.
- Industry Leading T.38 Expertise: Brooktrout has a long
history in both real-time PSTN and packet-based fax. Brooktrout Technology’s
co-founder and CTO, David Duehren, is the primary editor and contributing
author of the T.38 real-time fax over IP protocol specification, which he
began to develop in the mid 1990s.
- Security: With a properly configured IP network,
Brooktrout’s TR1034 with real-time fax over IP capability offers the same
level of security as Brooktrout’s PSTN based fax boards. Unlike dual purpose
fax and data modem cards, Brooktrout’s intelligent fax boards transmit fax
images only, and not data, in both PSTN or IP mode, ensuring malicious packets
cannot get through.
The TR1034 delivers reliable real-time fax over IP support with a SIP call
control layer that delivers seamless interaction with Cisco routers and
gateways, while at the same time delivering the same level of reliability
customers have come to expect from Brooktrout intelligent fax boards.
* Source: Davidson Consulting, 2003
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