New PC Fax Board Works at 9600 bps, Costs $195
 
Microbytes Daily News Service
Copyright (c) 1989, McGraw-Hill, Inc.
A new company called Fremont Communications has introduced a
9600-bits-per-second fax board, for IBM PC-compatibles, that's
priced at only $195. The half-length Frecom Fax96 card comes with
simple send/receive software that operates in the background
(without using a coprocessor). The software presents a graphic
screen that looks very much like the control panel of a typical
fax machine.
 
The Fax96 can send and receive Group III fax files and can also
send ASCII text files. A future release will support PostScript
and Hewlett-Packard's Printer Control Language files, allowing
any print file for a PostScript-based or HP Laserjet printer to
be transmitted as a fax, Fremont president George Masters told
Microbytes Daily.
 
The Frecom Faxc96 is based on the Yamaha YM7109 9600-bps fax chip
(Masters said it's the first product on the market to use that
chip). According to Masters, the chip is the key reason for the
board's low price. Most other fax boards use a chip set designed
by Rockwell that includes 3 chips and additional discrete logic.
The Yamaha chip combines full Group 3 fax capabilities at 9600
bps into a single chip. Sierra Semiconductor has also introduced
a low-cost, highly integrated fax chip, which should appear in
competitively priced fax boards soon.
 
"There are lots of low-priced 4800-bps boards," Masters said.
They're generally closer to $300 (for example, Quadram's JT Fax
board). As Masters points out, the average fax machine generates
about $1600 per year in long distance phone bills, making
transmission rates an important consideration.
 
The Fax96 will be available in about 30 days, Masters said.
 
 
Standard Seen Near for Faxing Binary Files
PC fax boards could soon be exchanging binary files at 9600 bits
per second. A binary file-transfer standard for fax boards is
"getting nailed down," according to Masters.
 
Currently, some fax board products have a "peer-to-peer" binary
file-transfer capability that allows them to transfer files at
9600 bps between other fax boards of the same make. But there is
no file transfer standard.
 
When the standard becomes established, fax boards could compete
directly with full-duplex modems as a viable means for
transmitting data files, with the additional benefit of fax
capabilities. However, fax boards operate at half duplex rather
than full duplex, so that direct file transfers between
full-duplex modems and fax boards will not be possible.
 
Contact: Fremont Communications Co, 46309 Warm Springs Blvd,
Fremont, CA 94539; (415) 438-5000.
 
                              --- Nick Baran
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
