(PR NEWSWIRE) DJ: GTE Introduces DestinationFAX Internet Service Based on
DJ: GTE Introduces DestinationFAX Internet Service Based on NetCentric FaxStorm
Technology
Business/Technology Editors
NOTE: GTE to demonstrate its new Internet fax service during
Spring Internet World 98, Los Angeles Convention Center,
March 11-13, GTE booth No. 1424.
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 11, 1998--
Internet fax offering part of GTE's strategic movement into
multibillion dollar data communications market.
GTE, one of the world's largest telecommunications companies, today
announced plans to offer an Internet-based fax service that will give
businesses and consumers more feature-rich capabilities, and an attractive,
more affordable alternative to existing faxing. GTE will immediately offer
its Internet fax service on a limited trial basis through mid-year, making
it commercially available this summer.
The service, to be marketed as GTE DestinationFAX(SM) (www.gte-fax.com),
utilizes NetCentric Corporation's FaxStorm Internet fax technology, and
includes a suite of services that deliver enhanced fax applications to
customers over their existing Internet connections.
Specifically, GTE DestinationFAX enables customers to send and receive faxes
from their computer desktop, email system, the World Wide Web, and
standalone fax equipment. GTE DestinationFAX also supports specialty
services such as self-managed fax broadcasting, fax to e-mail and fax on
demand.
With GTE DestinationFAX, fax transmissions will move over GTE's private and
secure IP network, providing increased savings for customers as well as
improving reliability and security.
"The move toward Internet-based faxing has been gaining momentum for well
over a year," said Jeff Pulver, president of Pulver.com, an Internet based
consulting firm in Melville, N.Y. "This announcement symbolizes a milestone
as the moment when the industry has shifted into high gear with carrier
class Internet fax services brought to reality by GTE and NetCentric working
together."
According to a Gallup/Pitney Bowes study on the faxing habits of Fortune 500
and Dunn & Bradstreet mid-sized companies, more than 60 percent of faxes are
sent long distance, and an average of $15 million is spent annually by
Fortune 500 companies on faxing. By 2002, the total U.S. fax market is
projected to exceed $34 billion as customers demand enhanced features not
available through a PSTN service provider.
"GTE's intent is to leverage our national marketing scope, IP backbone and
service delivery competencies to inject a unique flow of value to
customers," said Chris Brickler, director of enhanced IP services for GTE.
"Our existing customers want, and future customers will want, maximum
convenience and cost-effectiveness in their communications whether they are
using the telephone, faxing or emailing.
"Faxing alone accounts for more than one-third of the average business'
current phone bill," added Brickler, "and GTE DestinationFAX will be
particularly attractive to large and medium-sized businesses and
small-office/home-office customers because it provides true carrier-class
quality while delivering desktop convenience, intelligent processing,
transmission security, usage tracking and lower rates."
"GTE is a global telecommunications leader that is demonstrating an
aggressive IP strategy," said Paul MacKay, president of NetCentric
Corporation. "We are proud to be selected by such a leader. We believe that
commercial Internet fax services will become widely available around the
world during 1998, and GTE will be one of the first to do it."
GTE DestinationFAX is among a suite of enhanced IP (Internet protocol)
services that GTE is aggressively developing this year as part of an overall
strategy to be a leader in the $100 billion market for value-added data
communications services -- the most rapidly growing segment of the
telecommunications industry.
To support that effort, GTE last year acquired Internet pioneer BBN
Corporation, and began constructing its own national 17,000-mile-long,
high-capacity data network on which its enhanced IP service traffic will be
delivered. GTE's high-speed national network will ultimately connect more
than 100 major metropolitan markets upon completion next year.
The GTE DestinationFAX service will debut with NetCentric FaxStorm servers
deployed throughout the U.S., said Greg Lensch, program manager-enhanced IP
services for GTE, with increased deployment plans to service about 90
percent of U.S. businesses. Customers can electronically sign up for the GTE
DestinationFAX service at gte-fax.com.
About GTE DestinationFAX
GTE DestinationFAX service packages will be offered to suit a variety of
business needs. DestinationFAX will be offered to GTE customers as a
standalone service as well, with basic pricing set at $0.12 per page within
the US during the trial. Pricing to destinations outside the US varies by
country. Electronic fax mailboxes will be offered with private fax numbers
for $9.95 per month. Detailed information about GTE DestinationFAX can be
found on the Internet at gte-fax.com. Customers can
electronically sign up for the service on the web site.
About NetCentric FaxStorm
NetCentric's FaxStorm family of Internet faxing products enables Internet
network operators to offer their customers a simple way to both send and
receive documents from the desktop directly over the Internet. By delivering
documents to standard fax machines and to PCs as email attachments, FaxStorm
unites the two most popular ways of sending business information. Users can
access their faxes from any web-connected desktop anywhere, anytime. Because
inbound faxes are captured in electronic form, users can forward faxes to
others directly from the Inbox account. NetCentric's fax-to-email feature
allows faxes to be delivered to desktop computers as email attachments.
About GTE
With 1997 revenues of more than $23 billion, GTE is one of the world's
largest telecommunications companies and a leading provider of integrated
telecommunications services. In the United States, GTE provides local
service in 28 states and wireless service in 17 states; nationwide
long-distance and internetworking services ranging from dial-up Internet
access for residential and small-business consumers to Web-based
applications for Fortune 500 companies; as well as video service in selected
markets. Outside the United States, the company serves more than 7 million
telecommunications customers. GTE is also a leader in government and defense
communications systems and equipment, directories and
telecommunications-based information services, and aircraft-passenger
telecommunications. Additional information about GTE can be found on the
Internet at gte.com.
About NetCentric
NetCentric Corp., headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., was founded in January
1995 with the mission of developing software to enhance the Internet
infrastructure. The first product from the privately held company is
FaxStorm, an award-winning Internet fax system that enables Network Service
Providers and telecommunications companies to offer Internet fax as a
comprehensive value-added service. FaxStorm has been selected by more major
network service providers than any other IP-based fax system. NetCentric was
recently named one of the Top 100 emerging technology companies by
Computerworld.
Note: All brands, product and service names mentioned are trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective owners.
CONTACT: GTE
Bill Kula, 972/718-6924, william.kula@telops.gte.com
or
Schwartz Communications, Inc. for NetCentric
Merrill Freund, 781/684-0770, merrillf@schwartz-pr.com
*** end of story *** |
