Fax Machines

Help is on the way. The international body that regulates fax standards has tentatively approved a 36.6 bps protocol (also known as Super G3 fax). How much faster is that? Manufacturers say existing faxes can move a page in six seconds. The 33.6 machines are supposed to cut that time in half, to three seconds, which will be good news for anyone's long-distance phone budget. One consequence of the faster faxes may be expansion of peripheral fax-related services such as call routing and fax messaging as long-distance phone companies look for new ways to compete. The new machines should run only about $300 more than existing machines.

The bad news is that no 33.6 machine will actually transmit at 33.6 unless it's talking to another 33.6 machine. So it could be a while before the productivity and cost-cutting benefits of the technology are realized. Panasonic, Canon, Pitney Bowes, Mita and Sharp have al

ready introduced 33.6 machines; other major players (such as Savin/Ricoh, Konica, Lanier, dex, JetFax and Muratec) are offering 33.6 as an option or are expected to follow shortly.

Also on the horizon is JBIG (joint binary image group), a new compression scheme. JBIG will enable basic black and white images to be compressed 20 percent to 30 percent more than the current technology. It will compress half-tones three to 10 times more than the current standard. Together with 33.6, JBIG will transform faxing from a sometimes slow and balky procedure to a smooth operation that happens almost in the blink of an eye.