"The undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns." - William Shakespeare

For the past nine months or so, I have been the Fax Marketing Manager here at Dialogic.  When I first took on the task, I pretty much had the same reaction as most people do when they hear the word fax: YAWN!   However, I soon came to understand that it was a vibrant and evolving marketplace with many players and its own set of intricacies.

On the technical side, the transition from traditional T.30 faxing to T.38 fax relay (FoIP) can be even more complicated than moving from TDM based voice to VoIP.  Human ears and brains are a lot more tolerate of lost packets and data than are most fax machines. 

On the business side, the market for FoIP is growing, driven by new technologies such as Multi Function Peripherals and Virtualization.  Also, businesses around the world are now forced to deal with a growing and more demanding list of laws and regulations regarding Document Management and Privacy.  Here in the United States, non-compliance with these laws (particularly the Patriot Act) can not only result in fines as high as $1,000,000 per day but can also result in jail time for corporate executives.

Another interesting point is that while everyone is talking about how to do more with less in these challenging economic times (Unified Communications, Business Process Automation, Communication Enabled Business Process), for decades, fax has been reliably providing some of the services that these emerging markets require.  In truth, fax is so deeply engrained in current Business Processes that it will be decades before it will fade from the scene.

Even though I have this new appreciation for the Fax/FoIP Market, it is now time for me to move on.  My new assignment has me 100% dedicated to the developing strategy and tactics for Dialogic to address the Open Source Marketplace.  I look forward to a lively dialog as I keep you all posted on product offerings that we will be working on to address was is currently some undiscovered country for Dialogic.