Friday, September 5, 2014

Latest Developments from etherFAX

Albany, New York USA September 05, 2014 -- Fax Over Cloud produces an article on some of the latest developments at etherFAX.  



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Latest Developments from etherFAX
By Mark D. Malone
Fax Industry Analyst

Last month I posted a short snippet about our good friends at etherFAX (see, “etherFAX Signs Deal with ExtraComm”) just to get the word out about their new partner, but I also wanted to talk about some new innovations they’ve introduced into the marketplace.  Not only has etherFAX upped the ante by achieving a very high level certification from the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), they’ve also been seeing growth in the need for secure fax delivery capabilities that they alone can deliver. There is more about these developments later.

First, let’s recall the etherFAX solution. They’re not a fax server ISV nor are they a fax cloud services provider. Instead they offer a cloud-based fax telephony network that can tie in to virtually any Fax Server vendor’s on premise system. This eliminates the need for end customers to invest in on-premise telephony boards, circuits and related hardware – a huge savings and fewer headaches for those organizations that do not want to purchase, install and manage telephony equipment for their fax server.   I like this hybrid scenario since it leaves full control of the fax server software and the vital fax data on-premise – where it belongs according to some interpretations of the compliance standards like HIPAA and PCI DSS.


There’s a lot more depth to what etherFAX offers so I recently was able to get some time from them and updates on what they’re up to these days. They’ve undergone a bit of rebranding in the last couple of years so an update is in order. Special thanks to etherFAX CEO Paul Banco (PBanco@etherfax.net), and Director of Sales Quinn Corey (QCorey@etherfax.net) as well as CTO Robert Cichielo (RCichielo@etherfax.net) to get more details about their latest news.

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ExtraComm is etherFAX’s newest partner.

etherFAX continues to add on more and more Fax Server ISVs to their growing list of partners. ExtraComm is the maker of ExtraFax®, a faxing solution with tight integrations to both Lotus Domino and Microsoft Exchange. ExtraComm joins other notable Fax ISVs like Imecom, GoldFax, FaxCore, GFI Faxmaker, FacSys (Solgenia), One Touch Global and others.

etherFAX achieves PCI DSS Level 1 Certification

I must admit I didn’t know what “Level 1” merchant certification was until spoke with them. I learned quickly that not all vendors have achieved this level, but rather may have levels 2-4 in which they obtain certification through “self assessment”. Not in the case of Level 1 however. Service providers like etherFAX undergo a rigorous certification audit performed by an external 3rd-party vendor. In their case, etherFAX uses Trustwave® (www.trustwave.com) to continuously evaluate and scrutinize etherFAX’s internal systems, processes, policies and governance procedures.

But what does “Level 1” mean? First, a little history for context: Back in 2001, Visa instituted the Cardholder Information Security Program (CISP), which eventually rolled up into the current PCI DSS standards of today. According to Visa, “CISP is intended to protect Visa cardholder data–wherever it resides–ensuring that members, merchants, and service providers maintain the highest information security standard.”  And, specifically to what Level 1 means, “Merchants processing over 6 million Visa transactions annually (all channels) or Global merchants identified as Level 1 by any Visa region 2”
So, with a Level 1 go ahead from Visa, service provider etherFAX can serve merchants who do massive volumes of credit card transactions and keep the vital information well protected.  Very cool indeed especially since there are very few fax cloud vendors who have achieved this level.  


etherFAX SEN®

“SEN” stands for Secure Exchange Network and it’s actually not a brand new capability of the etherFAX cloud network. It’s sort of an “already built in capability” that’s growing in demand as HIPAA and PCI DSS tighten their grips about compliance mandates. In a nutshell, etherFAX SEN allows peer-to-peer faxing within the etherFAX network – without having to make a fax call outside the network.

Let’s say a customer using a hybrid GoldFax® server with an etherFAX telephony cloud sends a fax to a trading partner who happens to be using Imecom’s Use IT® Messaging server with etherFAX. In this scenario, the etherFAX network can recognize another etherFAX destination number and instead of making an outside fax call, the fax is delivered via “in-network” routing within the etherFAX network itself. No outside fax call means the delivery is instantaneous, there’s no telephone transmission and security is guaranteed from end-to-end. For record keeping, etherFAX also marks SEN transactions as “SENt” for reporting and compliance purposes.

One of the stand-out features of the SEN capability is that dissimilar products can enjoy the benefits of secure transmission without making any changes to their products.

The only requirement for SEN is that both sender and receiver of the fax must be part of the etherFAX network If customers want to leverage SEN but they don’t want to replace their entire telephony they can use etherFAX for SEN destined numbers.  The upshot is the fast delivery speeds, guaranteed delivery and improved security. They have customers using SEN already so read more about SEN at http://etherfax.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/etherFAX-SEN.pdf


etherFAX API

What if an organization doesn’t have a fax server that interoperates with etherFAX?  Or, what if they have no fax server at all but have a fax-based business application that needs automation?  etherFAX offers an Application Programming Interface (API) via their etherFAX Toolkit offering. Software integrators can utilize a Web Services interface to fax-enable any fax server or tie directly into an automated fax process (e.g. a production fax scenario).  etherFAX also provides jump-start kits for C/C++, C#/.NET, Java, PHP, and other programming languages. Fax integration has never been easier.

In closing

I like how etherFAX is positioned in the marketplace. They’re agnostic to any one particular fax server and can integrate with applications directly via their API.  They’ve taken the telephony complexities of a fax server installation away from the end customer and placed it into a very secure cloud environment. Customers can enjoy not only security but scalability and number porting as well. Combine that with their latest news and updates – this is a company worth watching closely. Their ability to address PCI DSS and HIPAA compliance mandates is a key strength that they can leverage to grow business.

More fax server ISVs should pay heed and look to supporting etherFAX for cloud telephony alternatives. And, for those companies and software integrators that are looking to automate fax processes directly, etherFAX presents a solid solution.  Make sure to check out and contact etherFAX at www.etherfax.net.

COMPANY PROFILE


Corporate Headquarters:
15 North Main Street
Marlboro, NJ 07746
(877) 384 - 9866

CEO: Paul Banco

Footprint:
·   United States
·   POPs overseas

Founded:
2009 as a Domestic Corporation – State of Delaware
(Privately Held)

Service Offerings:
·   etherFAX
·   etherFAX SEN
·   etherFAX DR
·   etherFAX Toolkit
·   etherFAX Co-location Services

Network:
·   4 9’s Reliability
·   Defense in-Depth Security and Redundancy

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