The hottest trend in the Fax Industry since Group 3 fax is Internet Fax. Group 3 fax has traditionally run over telephone networks and has become hugely successful. It is estimated that over 100 million Group 3 fax machines are installed worldwide and they can all communicate with each other using the Group 3 fax recommendations T.4 and T.30 which were developed by the ITU-T.
Human Communications has taken a leadership role in working with other leading companies in the fax and messaging industries to develop standards-based Facsimile over the Internet. James Rafferty of HC is chair of the Internet Fax working group of the Internet Engineering Task Force and has worked with his former co-chair Dave Crocker of Brandenburg Consulting to lead the working group in developing the first set of Internet Fax standards. They have also been working closely with the other major fax standards group, the ITU-T Study Group 8, whose Question 4 efforts on Internet fax have been led by Rapporteur Herman Silbiger of Applicom.
In January, the two standards bodies (the IETF and ITU-T) decided to work together to ensure that a unified set of Internet Fax standards were developed. In March 1998, the IETF published the first set of standards for Internet Fax, which define the service, file formats and addressing methods for the "Simple Mode" of Internet Fax via e-mail as RFCs 2301-2305. . In June 1998, the ITU-T approved the T.37 recommendation, which references the IETF RFCs for its definition of the "simple mode", thus producing a unified standard. Both the IETF and the ITU also plan to work on extensions to the simple mode. In addition, the ITU-T has completed a recommendation for Real Time Facsimile Over the Internet, known as T.38, which was also approved in June 1998.
James Rafferty and Dave Crocker take Internet fax standards to new heights while visiting Col Dzoard in the French Alps on the weekend before the approval of T.37.
Your best and most comprehensive source for information about Internet Fax is right here, at the Human Communications web site.
We have developed numerous products and services that can help you get educated fast about Internet fax at either the summary or detailed technical level. We will also maintain links to other key resources for Internet Fax.
1. How can I learn NOW about Internet Fax?
Read all about how Internet Fax standards were developed from the beginning, by ordering back issues of our fax standards newsletter, Human Communications Digest. We have a special on 6 back issues for $185 (order issues from Oct 96 - Jan 98)
Learn about the technical details of Internet Fax in a classroom setting at the Internet Fax Technology Workshop ; the next 2-day public class is targeted for the winter of 2000 on the West Coast; Private classes are also available (contact us via email or voice/fax (+1-203-746-4367) for details)
At FaxDirections99 on August 2-3, 1999 in San Diego, an all-star standards track was led by James Rafferty; Jump here to get access to the presentations on the web!
Go to the IOC/Converging Peripherals conference on Oct 25-27 to hear James Rafferty provide an Internet fax update for MFP vendors
2. Download the RFCs: The six RFCs are available for downloading from the IETF Web Site as RFCs 2301-2306.
Now, for even more powerful features, download the extended fax RFCs 2530-2532! See also the Content Negotiations
RFCs which are RFC 2506, 2533 and 2534 for the media features framework, definitions and syntax!
3. Download the ITU-T recommendations (T.37, T.38 and F.185) from the ITU electronic bookstore.
4. What about the ongoing work to define extensions for Internet Fax via e-mail? Check out the web site of the IETF Internet Fax working group (chaired by James Rafferty). Information available from this page includes Minutes of recent IETF Internet Fax meetings, copies of draft standards documents in progress and links to the published RFCs.
5. Tell me about plans for Internet fax Interworking events and the results! Check out the IMC web site regarding the Fax Connect I event or the EMA web site regarding Internet Fax interworking at EMA 99. On December 1-2, 1998 in San Jose, seventeen companies kicked off the standards based Internet fax industry by conducting interworking tests for products and services that support ITU-T T.37, IETF RFC 2305 (the Simple Mode of Internet Fax via E-mail) and RFC 2301 (TIFF profiles for facsimile). In addition, James compiled a matrix to document how many implementaions are supporting the 30 identified features of RFC 2305 and for which features interworking was tested. For IETF standards, one of the requirements in his role as Internet fax chair is to document successful interworking between at least two independent implementions in order to support progression to the IETF "draft standard" level.
To find out more about the Fax Connect I results, including the interworking matrix, read the Fax Connect I report!.
To find out more about the public demonstration of Internet fax held at the Internet Fax Pavilion of EMA 99 on March 29-31, 1999, including the companies involved, see the brochure prepared for the event on the EMA web site.
And on May 18-19 1999, the next round of testing took place in San Jose and Tokyo (on May 19,20) at Fax Connect II. This unique engineering event was held simultaneously on 2 continents, as Internet fax interoperability testing based on RFC 2301-2305 and T.37 are taken to the next level. The report can be found at this link.
If you are an Internet fax vendor that wants to test your own product in-house, you may want to download a blank copy of the RFC 2305 Interworking matrix). In addition, we now have added the RFC 2301 matrix for TIFF profiles and the RFC 2303-2304 matrix for Offramp addressing!
6. Is there an Industry Association for Internet Fax?
Yes, the Internet Fax and Business Communications Association has just been formed. For more information, jump to the web site for the association. Planned activities include the continuation of the Fax Connect interworking events, Internet fax trade show pavilions, a T.38 discussion list and interworking events and much, much more. Go to the web site and find out how your company can become a Founding Member! The association has been formed under the leadership of James Rafferty, Max Schroeder and David Crocker.
7. I want to be able to receive standards-based Internet faxes in my e-mail! Can I do that today?
If your e-mail system supports the reception of MIME attachments, you should be able to receive Internet faxes that are compliant with T.37 and RFC 2305. Jump to our Internet Fax resources page for more details and to download a viewer.
8. Are there an open source version of Internet fax software that I can work with?
Yes! The first one we have heard of has been developed by the WIDE consortium in Japan. WIDE has been an active participant in the Internet fax development work within the IETF and has a full featured implementation of the RFC 2305 "Simple Mode". To find out more, see the WIDE information on Internet Fax!
(More to come)
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