I have two office locations and would like to set up a system
so I can share data and communicate via a secure connection
over the internet.

I've read that I can somehow use a VPN with VOIP and connect 2 phone systems (1 in each location) via tVPN/VOIP.

Goals:

1. Share one Act! database at 2 (or 3) locations
2. be able to fax documents at one location and save them to a server or desktop on another computer at the other location.
3. potentially fax over theconnection from one location to the other
4 Be able to talk between the 2 locations over internet
5 Be able to transfer a call from one location to the other
6 Be able to automaticly forward calls received at one
location to the other location seemlessly (IE: without caller knowing, no glitches )


Can anyone help me with this, point me in the right direction?

1. Share one Act! database at 2 (or 3) locations

All locations NEED to have a VPN style router. We use a Linksys (ya i know but for the price, it works damn damn good with little problems)

2. be able to fax documents at one location and save them to a server or desktop on another computer at the other location.

Spend some money on this baby. Bizhub from konica-minolta. We use the di2010. Has programmable keys so that we can scan to a server via ftp. or it can email the scan. it can also be setup that when it receives a FAX from a landline. it can do a number of things, print it out, send copy to server, etc. etc.

3. potentially fax over theconnection from one location to the other

see option 2

4 Be able to talk between the 2 locations over internet

voice or data? data, see option 1

5 Be able to transfer a call from one location to the other
6 Be able to automaticly forward calls received at one
location to the other location seemlessly (IE: without caller knowing, no glitches )

5 and 6 I have NOT dealt with or done. this should get you started...

I don't deal with a lot of telephony stuff, but I do know you'll be looking for a ethernet based voip system for your phone needs. With what Khan said above, your networks should act as 1 big one, which in turn will give your phone system the ability to do the rest. It's all IP based so a phone next office over or next state over shouldn't matter provided the network is setup correctly, and that sufficient bandwidth exists for the VPN connection to handle all the above.