Technical Notes, Zetafax

INFO: What is new in Zetafax version 17.0

ZTN2086

ID: ZTN2086

This Zetafax technical note applies to:

·         Zetafax version 17.0

Summary

This technical note describes the new features in Zetafax version 17.0.

More information

Zetafax version 17.0 adds the following features:

Zetafax Online

Zetafax Online is a hosted telephony cloud service for use with a Zetafax Server, giving an alternative to using local phone lines.  Instead of using a local fax device, the Zetafax Server communicates with the Zetafax Online service via the Internet.  The Zetafax Online service manages the phone lines, and the Zetafax Server only needs an Internet connection to send and receive faxes. 

All communication with the Zetafax Online service is handled by the Zetafax Server, transparently to users.  Users send and receive faxes in the same way as on systems configured to use fax boards, and the same client interfaces are supported including the Zetafax Client, Zetafax Email Gateway, Web Client, Fax Broadcast Client and Zetafax Automation Toolkit. 

For receiving faxes, each Zetafax Online account can be allocated one or more inbound fax numbers, with a wide range of country and area codes available.  Companies wishing to use an existing fax number can either arrange to redirect incoming calls to their Zetafax Online number, or port their existing number into the Zetafax Online service account (depending on the telecom provider – please contact Equisys for further details).

See the web site for further information.

Support for Windows 10

This release supports Windows 10, and includes new drivers for the Zetafax Printer and the Mail Rendering Subsystem printer.

With previous Zetafax releases, the printer drivers would only work on the matching Windows version.  On other Windows versions they would add a watermark or not work correctly.  This meant that after upgrading Windows to a newer version (eg upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 8) you had to reinstall Zetafax on that computer to ensure the printer drivers worked correctly on the new platform.

With this release the printer drivers for Windows 7 and Windows 8 / 8.1 will now continue to work after upgrading the version of Windows.  We still recommend users to reinstall Zetafax on a computer after upgrading the Windows version.  However this change means that, provided you have installed Zetafax version 17.0 or later on a Windows 7 or Windows 8 / 8.1 computer, then Zetafax will continue to work correctly if you upgrade the computer to Windows 10 without then reinstalling Zetafax.

Support for modern (Windows Store) apps.

This release of Zetafax now supports printing to the Zetafax Printer from modern (Windows Store) apps.  This enables you now to send faxes from modern apps by printing using the standard charm bar options in Windows 8 and Windows 10, then switching to the desktop to address and send the fax.

Support for SIP trunks.

SIP is a network protocol for controlling phone calls.  When you install a Zetafax system with a Fax over IP (FoIP) Connector configured with SIP, then SIP messages are passed between the Zetafax Server and the FoIP gateway or phone system, to make and answer the calls.

In many systems the Zetafax Server and the FoIP gateway are installed in the same local area network, and can communicate directly across the internal network.  However in some systems the FoIP gateway is situated outside the company’s network, and must be accessed through a firewall via an external IP connection.  This is often referred to as a SIP Trunk, and is required where the phone lines are installed at another location.

With this release, we have improved support for configuring the FoIP Connector (SR140 Edition) for use with a SIP trunk which is supplied by the provider of the Internet connection – typically where this is already being used for voice calls. 

Note that we do not recommend or support use of SIP trunks from third party providers with Zetafax, because of the need for specialist configuration and because of reduced privacy and transmission reliability when using such services over the public Internet.

Support for UNC subfolders with RouteToFolder

RouteToFolder is a feature in the Zetafax API, where Zetafax can be configured to store incoming faxes in a specified folder.  The folder name can be set independently for each Zetafax user.

With previous releases of Zetafax the folder name could be specified using a UNC path (e.g. “\\Server\Share”), with the file stored in the root (top level) folder in that path.

With this release this feature has been extended to support subfolders (e.g. “\\Server\Share\Subfolder”), including multiple subfolders.  This enables each user to route to a separate folder without having to create a separate share for each one.

Zetafax version 17.0 also includes the software improvements detailed in the following technical notes:

·         ZTN2082 - FIX: Unable to address a fax to contacts using the Outlook Addin

·         ZTN2071 - INFO: Changes in Brooktrout driver version 6.7.1 update

·         ZTN1941 - FIX: Some pages on a received fax appear squashed or stretched

·         ZTN2069 - FIX: HPSCAN does not process scanned documents

·         ZTN2070 - FIX: Printing to Zetafax Printer does not produce print output to Zetafax Client for low rights users on a client OS

·         ZTN2065 - FIX: Zetafax strips non-standard characters from the dial string when sending using SR140

·         ZTN2066 - FIX: Zetafax SMTP Server terminates when sending faxes with embedded images using Lotus Notes

·         ZTN2060 - FIX: FaxBroadcast feature not visible in Zetafax Client installer

·         ZTN1997 - FIX: Fax message is not received to the Exchange Online user inbox

·         ZTN1989 - FIX: Zetafax Server gives licence error when sending a fax with a graphics file attachment without the rendering add-on

·         ZTN1987 - FIX: Automatic enrolment of more than 1000 mail users is not possible

·         ZTN1998 - FIX: Zetafax SMTP Server crashes when attaching a document with long filenames or filenames containing non-ASCII characters

·         ZTN1986 - FIX: Iterating through the MessageHistories collection in Zetafax COM API causes a crash of the calling application or an incorrect date to be returned

·         ZTN2067 - FIX: Uninstalling Zetafax Client does not remove Zetafax Outlook Addin from all users

The following features have been deprecated with this release.  The features are still supported by the software, and customers who have previously purchased these add-ons will continue to be supported after upgrading.  However they are no longer available for new purchase.

·         FoIP Connector (Standard Edition)

·         SMS Gateway

Status

This update is available free of charge to customers with a Software Assurance contract which is current at the date of release (15 September 2015).  It is available as a chargeable software version upgrade for other customers.

The update is recommended for all Zetafax 2014 and older systems.

References

ZTN2087 HOWTO Updating to Zetafax version 17.0

Last updated: 15th September 2015 (NT/GW)