XMediusFAXTM SP streamlines faxing operations at the PNG division of Canwest Media
The Client
Pacific Newspaper Group (PNG), headquartered in British Columbia, Canada, is a division of Canwest Media Publications Inc. PNG is Canada’s largest newspaper publisher, with 10 major metropolitan dailies and 23 smaller daily, weekly, and community papers, as well as a growing interactive media business that includes the Canada.com and working. com Web sites.
Nearly 60% of PNG’s 950 full-time employees use fax services. On a daily basis, the company transmits and receives several hundred to thousands of faxes. The type of documents being sent and received include office document printouts, advertising proofs and receipts, and copies of press release documents, ranging from very important sales orders and ad proofs to fax-based spam.
Prior to incorporating XMediusFAX into its fax infrastructure, PNG had a distributed network of 54 Canon fax machines connected to a Nortel PBX. It operated several machines in a paired mode with automatic PBX hunting for automatic failover with reserved / prioritized access routes to ensure incoming fax delivery. The remaining machines were standard, general-purpose office installations sending and receiving to internal and external fax destinations.
The Challenge
PNG needed a holistic approach to streamline the distributed architecture for its immediate needs, and yet be flexible enough to meet future migration plans to a VoIP infrastructure.
Based on PNG’s existing and future needs, XMediusFAX was evaluated for its ability to phase out the company’s existing fax machines and integrate itself into a non-VoIP based system. Eventually, it would need to migrate to a VoIP-based infrastructure.
As part of its migration strategy, PNG planned to incorporate MFPs that could be configured to send faxes via analog phone lines. These MFP devices would provide a fail back capability should a network or remote XMediusFAX server fail. By configuring the associated software for the MFPs and the Nortel PBX, PNG could switch the MFP devices to fax either via analog phone lines or the XMediusFAX server.
Similar to most companies using fax machines for their day-to-day faxing needs, PNG was experiencing the standard “fax-problems”. The company was relying on an inefficient legacy technology requiring: numerous fax machines, analog POTS lines, hefty long-distance telecom charges, other specialized hardware, and supplies such as toners and paper.
The Solution
PNG explored various other fax server solutions on the market. The business case steered the company towards Sagemcom’s XMediusFAX SP version fax server software with T.38 FoIP technology. The solution offered the most feature-rich suite of capabilities with compelling economics, based on its promise of quick ROI.
In implementing a 12-channel XMediusFAX SP software solution, PNG:
- Cost-effectively leveraged existing equipment to integrate its Nortel PBX via a SIP-based AudioCodes gateway
- Eliminated 54 fax machines
- Achieved the ability to add other divisions in the future, and to configure for autonomous management and operations
- Future-proofed for a VoIP migration to eventually replace its existing telecom infrastructure
PNG’s new fax landscape includes HP multifunction devices (MFPs) with HP Digital Send Software interoperating successfully with XMediusFAX. Faxes can be routed through a few of the older analog lines left in place on the PBX or through a network folder to the XMediusFAX application.
Results and Benefits
As a heavy user of fax services, PNG is now able to benefit from XMediusFAX SP’s field-proven solution to manage large fax volumes and deliver high levels of scalability and availability.
As a completely software-based solution, XMediusFAX requires no extra hardware or third-party kits. PNG has completely eliminated its fax machines by working them out of their site, and have allowed them to realize savings on their maintenance costs.
By adding a third-party OCR application to the XMediusFAX SP solution, the Classifieds department of the newspaper has eliminated the manual step of scanning hardcopy faxes to convert the fax to a classified ad, hence allowing for increased employee productivity.
