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From: sullivan@EDN-VAX.ARPA.UUCP
Newsgroups: mod.telecom
Subject: Fax emulator boards
Message-ID: <8703071902.AA13437@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: Fri, 6-Mar-87 10:37:17 EST
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Posted: Fri Mar  6 10:37:17 1987
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The 4 March issue of EDN, pp53-56, describes some new fax emulators
for PC's which apparently are compatible with CCITT group 3 and 4
algorithms, and which appear to be designed exclusively with
dial-up phone line connections in mind. Two questions come to mind:

1. Is anyone working on a packet interface for these fax boards,
or integrating them with existing packet interfaces, such as the
PC-X.25 products or what I think of as "PC-IP" (single-connection-TCP,
IP, TFTP running on a LAN)? 

2. Are there obvious & compelling reasons why running fax thru
a packet or robust transport layer would NOT be a good idea?

(er, more than two questions)
3. What will implications be for ISDN-type services? Interfacing
to B-channel dial-up sounds like a straightforward design problem
with nonzero but small risk. However, it sounds like the whole
idea of packetizing fax through the D-channel needs to be looked
at carefully to determine under what performance and cost ranges
it would be a desirable service.

Thanks for all thoughts,
Pat Sullivan
DCEC
Reston, VA.