Chapter 2: System Overview
Multi-Tech Systems, Inc. FF110 FaxFinder Fax Server Admin User Guide 9
Our Sample System
The FaxFinder system handles faxes in a non-conventional way. A regular fax machine is a centralized
resource. The FaxFinder system decentralizes fax functions throughout a network of PCs served by the
FaxFinder unit and by an email server in a common Ethernet network. In this chapter, we will give you
the big picture of how the FaxFinder FF110 Server unit and the FaxFinder Client software can deliver this
convenient functionality.
To show what you must do to implement FaxFinder functionality, we use a fictitious company, “Rocky
Mountain Construction, Inc.,” a housing developer, as an ongoing example throughout the FaxFinder
documentation. We show, in this small sample system, the parameters that must be set in any FaxFinder
system, both for the server and for clients.
A regular fax machine typically operates in a common office area and is shared by multiple parties.
Usually no individual’s fax traffic is heavy enough to justify a dedicated personal fax machine. Commonly,
many parties go to the same fax machine to send and receive on a single ordinary phone line.
Compared to the centralized and non-private nature of faxing with an ordinary fax machine, the FaxFinder
system offers fax users decentralized functionality, autonomy, and privacy. For outgoing faxes, the
conversion of documents into electronic fax files is now done by FaxFinder Client software (that resides
on the PC of each user) working with the print output of any application program. Faxes can be sent to
multiple parties with one mouse click. Outgoing faxes can consist of multiple documents and come from
different application programs (word processors, graphics programs, spreadsheets, etc.).
For incoming faxes, each client on the FaxFinder network has a private phone number for receiving faxes.
A Direct Inward Dial line allows each FaxFinder unit to serve numerous clients from a single incoming
phone line. Each received fax arrives in the client users’ email inbox as an attached TIFF file that can be
stored and forwarded as well as being viewed and printed.
In the remainder of this chapter, we introduce our fictitious sample Faxfinder system. First, we show the
server software parameters that must be set for this simple system. Next we show two pairs of
illustrations about fax reception and fax transmission. In the first pair, we show what happens in the
FaxFinder system when a fax is received, from both server and client perspectives. In the second pair,
we show what happens when a fax is sent. The server perspective comes first. We then show sending
from the client perspective along with a setup for that client. We briefly explain each step of the process.
Finally, we show how the FaxFinder assembles the components of the fax message for the convenience
of the user.
These illustrations explain how the FaxFinder system fits into your Ethernet network and what client users
will encounter when they begin to use the FaxFinder Client software.