Re: [hylafax-users] Fax Broadcasting:

[Andreas Kostyrka <andreas@mtg.co.at>]

Am Mittwoch, 8. Januar 2003 16:40 schrieb Joe W. Guy, Jr.:
> Greetings!  I've been hired to set up a fax broadcasting server for a small
> business.  They plan on broadcasting documents to an estimated 5,000 phone
> numbers a day.  My questions are 1.  Can hylafax be used to do this 2. How
> many phone lines do we need ?  3.  How would I get it all to work ?  Any
> information on this setup would be great!!  Thanks!!

ad 1: yes, probably the only open source software that is up to the task.
And probably the most flexible high-end package out there (you have source, do 
you?) and with the best cost performance.

ad 2: depends upon the structure of the documents, quality of lines, and 
quality of receiver fax machines.

ad 3: pay a consultant? buy some nice Windows software? Although Windows 
software that even approaches the flexibility and quality of hylafax is in 
the high price segment.
Actually, in my experience about 80% of the work in a custom deployment of a 
fax server can be done remotely. 20% is setting up the hardware, lines and 
basic OS. Plus configuring the Windows PCs.

For example, assuming you are sending 1-page faxes with text on it, you can 
than assume about 40-50 faxes per hour per line.

If your deadline for your 5000 faxes are
1h -> 100-125 lines
2h -> 50-62 lines
4h -> 25-31 lines
8h -> 12-16 lines
16h -> 6-8 lines
24h -> 4-5 lines
36h -> 3-4 lines

Again, this assumes the quality of the lines and receivers is ok.

Another thing you should consider is how the customer will get the faxes to 
the faxsender. 
Will the faxes be always the same? 
Will the faxes be customized per receiver?
[usually the recipients are much more happy if the fax is personalized]
Should the fax server be also able to receive faxes during send?
Should the fax server be able to send "smaller" jobs with higher priority?
How should the fax server report sucess or failure?
[Is a list with OK/BAD enough or does the customer have some legal 
requirements to keep more?]
How should the fax be rendered? 
[the usual ps converter creates faxes that are lighter than manually faxed 
pages. Had already a customer who required the "dark manual fax" look.]
Does the customer have alreay the lines? (for example seperate offices?)
[should the jobs be done by one server or split remotely to say 5 offices? if 
there is already the hardware there, this might be significant savings.]

Best regards,

Andreas Kostyrka


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