AMS

Advanced Media Server (AMS)
General Description

Each node of the Enhanced Media System (EMS) has a second level network of Advanced Media Servers (AMS's). One of the AMS's on this network, which is a Local Area Network (LAN), is a Master AMS and the rest are Slave AMS's.

Broadly, the Advanced Media Server (AMS) is a store-and-forward fax routing system that moves faxes from Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to Internet and then back through another AMS onto the PSTN to reach the destination fax device.

Role of Master/Slave AMS in the Enhanced Media System (EMS)

The Advanced Media Server (AMS) is designed to operate with minimum dependencies on the backbone network.

As represented by the diagram above, the Master AMS’s are managed through a single station called the Global Management Station (GMS). The GMS has many functions including determining how faxes get routed over Internet.

Together, all these components make up the Enhanced Media System (EMS).

The Master AMS capabilities are as follows:

The Master gets Incoming fax from the Slave and based on Routing Table configurations, either schedules back to a Slave if to be transmitted locally or is routed to another AMS over Internet.

Provides "On line" or "Off line" status of the Incoming fax to the GMS.

Provides "On line" or "Off line" status of the Outgoing fax to the GMS.

Delivers fax to a broadcast list based on list provided by the GMS.

Provides detailed transaction logs regarding all activities on that AMS.

Keeps track of all the system channels which include AMS channels i.e. Winsock 1.1 interface for Internet connectivity (only on Master) and Fax channels on all the Slave AMS's & on Master (if any).

Channel allocation for jobs depending upon channel resource availability.

Intelligent disk management of system for fax files storage.

Schedules jobs on the basis of start time option and job priority. Retries the jobs based on retry algorithm.

Uploads any other changes (new subscriber added, broadcast lists) done in the system to the GMS.

In short, Master AMS functions are related to the management, allocation, scheduling, validation, routing and upload/download from GMS.

The Slave AMS capabilities are as follows:

Answer Incoming calls.

Accept DTMF strings. (The Master AMS does the Validation of Subscriber Id and Password).

Accept Incoming fax.

Deliver an Outgoing fax.

In short, Slave AMS function is related to sending/receiving faxes.

The key enhancements in Release 2.0 is as follows:

Windows NT Operating System

Multithreading capabilities

GUI based Administrator’s Interface

Local database for jobs/transactions

Configuration through Registry

WinSock 1.1 interface (TCP/IP) for WAN connectivity.

AMS Features

AMS Specifications