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From: bertv@kompas.prl.philips.nl (Bert de Vries)
Newsgroups: alt.fax,comp.periphs
Subject: FAX products to be used in a SUN environment
Message-ID: <2119@prles2.prl.philips.nl>
Date: 3 Sep 90 14:23:16 GMT
Sender: news@prles2.prl.philips.nl
Reply-To: bertv@kompas.prl.philips.nl (Bert de Vries)
Followup-To: alt.fax
Organization: Philips Research Laboratories, the Netherlands
Lines: 152


My department is looking for a fax solution in a Sun environment.

Below you'll find the current status of my investigations:

Fax-requirements

The minimum requirements for the Fax(board) to be used in the ECHO-environment are :

1. CCITT Compatibility T.4 (essential) and T.6 (desirable).

2. Auto Dial/Send. The capability of the fax board to dial telephone numbers
in an unattended mode and transmit documents. 

3. Auto Answer/Receive. The capability of the fax board to accept transmitted documents in unattended mode and save them to disk.

4. File Format T.4 (essential) and T.6 (desirable). The capability of the facsmimile board to transmit T.4 and T.6 format directly. T.6 format should converted in T.4 first.

5. A command line interface for transmission. A command line interface should be available including the following parameters:

- pathname(s) of documentpage(s)

- telephonenumber of recipient (fax)

- date/time at which the fax should be transmitted

6. The transaction log of both transmission and receiving should have a
known format and accessable by other programs.

7. High reliability, high uptime at least 95%.


Additional features depending on platform

Three possible solutions are mentioned below. The SUN solution has preference
above the others.

PC based

1. Fax(board) in AT bus of PC

2. Driver software runs on MS-DOS

3. Application software runs on MS-DOS


Mixed PC / SUN

1. Fax(board) in AT bus of PC

2. Driver software runs on MS-DOS

3. Application software runs on SUN (Sparc and 386i)

4. SUN - PC connection via Ethernet/TCP-IP.


SUN based

1. Hardware-interface SCSI, S-bus or AT-bus

2. Fax(card)-manufacter must deliver driver-software which runs on SUN-platform
(Sparc or 386i)

3. Application software runs on SUN-platform

Fax-status

The following faxboard are under investigation.

The Complete FAX/9600

A PC board, recommended by Datapro Research (1989 report).
Tested informaly. Looks allright for a PC.

JT Fax 4800

A PC board, recommended by Datapro Research (1989 report).
Tested informaly. Looks allright for a PC.

Gammafax

A PC board, recommended by Datapro Research (1989 report).
Tested informaly. Looks allright for a PC.
Looks promising, due to its programming interface (for OEM only).

JTS products

A product line of JTS Computer Systems U.S.A. Present on the list of
SBus developers. 
Promising for full SUN connectivity. More information is
asked for. No reply so far.

NewPort fax products

A product line of Xecom U.S.A. Present on the list of
SBus developers. 
Promising for full SUN connectivity. More information is
asked for. No reply so far.

Fax Modem

A product of Antares Microsystems U.S.A. Present on the list of
SBus developers. 
Promising for full SUN connectivity. More information is
asked for. No reply so far.

X-tend Netmodem/Fax products

A product line of Helios Systems U.S.A. Present on the list of
SBus developers. 
Promising for full SUN connectivity. More information is
asked for. No reply so far.

The Bristol Group

Deutschland Gmbh
Dreeichstasse 10
Moerfelden-Walldorf
Telephone: (0)6105-2945
Telefax: (0)6105-25395
(or)
P.O Box 910
Londonderry New Hampshire
Telefax: 603/437-3220

Fax equipment for SUN environment,
Additional information received. Very promising, complete SUN integration,
Open Windows, NO PC dependencies.


FINAL REMARK:

There are very few products available which give a real SUN based solution.
A lot of offered solutions depend completely or partly on a PC. The only
real SUN solution I have had information on is the Bristol Group.


If you have any comments on my remarks or additional information please
respond to this net or directly to me.

    __  __ __ __ Bert de Vries, ECHO Project
   /_/ /_ /_/ /  Philips Research Labs, Project Centre Geldrop
  /_/ /_ /\  /   Willem Alexanderlaan 7B, 5664 AN  Geldrop
                 Phone: +31 40 892311 Fax: +31 40 892300
                 Domain: bertv@pcg.philips.nl


    __  __ __ __ Bert de Vries, ECHO Project
   /_/ /_ /_/ /  Philips Research Labs, Project Centre Geldrop
  /_/ /_ /\  /   Willem Alexanderlaan 7B, 5664 AN  Geldrop
                 Phone: +31 40 892311 Fax: +31 40 892300