RedRock Technologies Ltd. (RedRock) is the United Kingdom's leading independent provider of network fax solutions. Founded in September of 1993, RedRock develops software that integrates fax systems and e-mail applications in office networks. RedRock also offers custom e-mail-to-fax integration. The company has provided solutions for many companies worldwide, including State Street Bank and Merrill Lynch.

One of RedRock's best-selling products is RedRock Faxgate for GroupWise (Faxgate). Faxgate is a Windows-based gateway program that enables GroupWise (version 4.1 and above) clients to send faxes directly from their workstations. Faxgate operates in conjunction with Castelle's FaxPress, an external network fax server that supports users across one or more post offices in a single-domain or multi-domain environment. Faxgate runs on a dedicated PC and communicates with a GroupWise DOS- or NetWare Loadable Module™-based message server. All fax routing is carried out through DID, DTMF, or T.30 subaddressing. Faxgate supports a wide range of fax modems.

In 1996, the British government's Department of the Environment (the Department) began looking for a new fax gateway program. The Department's employees used Novell's GroupWise 4.1 messaging system to send and receive e-mail and faxes. However, because of limitations within the Department's fax gateway program, some users were having difficulties sending faxes from GroupWise.

For example, the Department's fax gateway program required users to type in long address strings every time they sent a fax. In addition to being cumbersome and inefficient, the complicated addressing format increased the likelihood that users would make errors. When addressing errors occurred, fax transmissions were often delayed or cancelled.

Also, before sending a fax, Department employees had to convert files into a text-only format or other format that the fax gateway recognized. Users found this process to be inconvenient and time consuming. What's more, the gateway's conversion engine did not support some of the Department's applications' formats, which meant that users had to print documents and fax them through a standard fax machine.

Finally, users complained that the fax gateway program did not notify them whether a fax was successfully transmitted, delayed in a long queue, or cancelled. As a result, users had to either call the addressee to determine if the fax had been received-in effect requiring the Department to pay twice for sending a fax-or simply use a standard fax machine.

The Department, therefore, needed a fax solution that would simplify fax addressing and document conversion and provide information about fax transmission status. The solution would have to be compatible with the Department's GroupWise system and, because the Department's enterprise NetWare network consisted of over 40 servers and 2,000 users at 10 different locations, easy to install and update.

The Department evaluated several fax solutions before selecting RedRock's Faxgate to provide the specialized e-mail-to-fax integration the Department required. Faxgate's complete integration with GroupWise and its simple and centralized installation process were attractive features. The Department found the installation of the Faxgate software and the FaxPress server products very easy to use. And with Faxgate, the department did not have to install the products on all of the network PCs.

Faxgate enables users to easily address and send faxes. Users simply choose "Send" from any Windows application, which opens GroupWise from within the application. Then, they click the Faxgate fax addressing button that appears in the GroupWise Address Book. This brings up a dialog box in which they type the recipient's name, organization, and fax number. Faxgate automatically produces an addressing string and inserts it into the appropriate field.

Faxgate also solved the Department's document conversion problems. The user includes an extension in the file name that designates its format, such as .wpd for WordPerfect. When the user sends the file, Faxgate converts it into a PCL file and submits it to FaxPress for transmission. Since Faxgate supports over 220 different file formats, there is virtually no file that cannot be transmitted using this simple process. If users wish to send a message with their documents, they can compose an e-mail message in GroupWise, press the Attach button in the GroupWise Mail To dialog box, and select any number of documents in any format to be attached to the e-mail message. Faxgate will then send the message and converted documents as a single fax. An e-mail message, with any attachments, can also be sent to a broadcast list containing both fax and e-mail addresses.

Finally, Department employees are particularly delighted with Faxgate's notification feature. After every successful or failed fax transmission, the sender receives a message stating when the fax was sent or when and why the transmission failed. If the fax was cancelled, the sender can correct any erroneous information and resubmit the fax directly from the notification message. Users can now be certain that a fax was successfully transmitted, eliminating the need to call for confirmation or send a document from a standard fax machine.

Faxgate has proved to be an effective solution to the Department's electronic faxing needs. Users no longer struggle with complicated address strings or worry about faxes being delayed because of possible errors in the address format. With Faxgate, file conversion is also quick and easy. The Department's users have regained faith in the reliability of electronic faxing because the notification messages provided by Faxgate keep them informed about the status of their faxes. "Faxgate has made faxing through GroupWise simple and reliable, and GroupWise has given the Department very successful electronic messaging capabilities," says one Department employee. "Most of our users couldn't live without it."

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