[VoiceOps] Audiocodes MP202B fax-to-https ATA

[Rob Dawson]

I looked at this a while back but I was unable to implement due to budgetary constraints. I'll give you what I recall -
- It operates in a store and forward configuration i.e. the ATA receives the entire fax then transmits it via HTTPS. I am unsure of size limitations but I would imagine it is memory constrained to some upper limit.
- The ATA receives updates from the fax server and then essentially transmits a status fax to the sending machine. They recommended disabling transmission reports on the fax machine otherwise it would print a success page every time.
- The terminating end is a third party fax server. There one or two alternatives that were available, including a white label cloud based solution but I don’t remember the manufacturers. I also inquired about the possibility of releasing the interface (I am sure it is a  simple REST type interface) for integration into an open source solution like Hylafax but never got anywhere with that.
- I don’t think there is anything else commercial like this, at least not as of two years ago.

I did a roll your own version as a proof of concept using two Asterisk boxes and an ATA. Essentially, the ATA registered to server A. The dialplan directed any valid DN to a fax conversation that converted the file to a TIF, named the file based on sending/receiving DN and date/time, and did an HTTP PUT to server B. Server B had a cron job that looked for files and transmitted them based on the sending and receiving parties from the filename, again using Asterisk and the Asterisk fax module. It worked really well considering the amount of time that I put into it. I was able to transmit over 50 pages over a spotty 3G connection and the public Internet, I am sure a commercial product would have similar success, with the caveat of any limitations due to memory, etc.

Rob

-----Original Message-----
From: VoiceOps [mailto:voiceops-bounces at voiceops.org] On Behalf Of Jay Hennigan
Sent: Monday, March 16, 2015 7:46 PM
To: VoiceOps
Subject: [VoiceOps] Audiocodes MP202B fax-to-https ATA

We've recently become aware of the Audiocodes MP-202B ATA that sits at a customer premise, captures transmission from a fax machine, and sends it via HTTPS to a remote server. We are considering this as a solution to some specific problematic fax-over-IP situations.

I have a few concerns, and am wondering if anyone on the list has used these units and what your experience is with them, good, bad, or ugly.
Specifically:

* Does the ATA receive the entire fax and then send it over HTTPS? If so, is there a limitation on the number of pages or size of data?

* Does the sending fax get an accurate report of failure if the actual destination fax is unreachable (busy, no answer, wrong number, out of paper, etc.) once the transmission is accepted by the local Audiocodes box, or do they get an "OK" report in error?

* What goes on the other end? Is there a bigger version Audiocodes box that connects to a PRI or other TDM connection to the PSTN?

* Are there competing products that we should be considering?

The Audiocodes website is somewhat lacking in terms of technical detail and I have a call into them but wanted to get some feedback from the community about this and similar solutions.


--
Jay Hennigan - CCIE #7880 - Network Engineering - jay at impulse.net Impulse Internet Service  -  http://www.impulse.net/ Your local telephone and internet company - 805 884-6323 - WB6RDV _______________________________________________
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