UUnet has an agreement with a private company Openport Technology:
UUNET UNVEILS GLOBAL INTERNET FAX SERVICE
World's Largest ISP Harnesses Power of Internet to Address Multibillion Dollar Market
NEW YORK, NY, July 8, 1997-UUNET Technologies, Inc., the world's largest Internet service provider and a subsidiary of WorldCom, Inc., today announced that it will be the first ISP to
offer a serious alternative to using traditional voice telephone networks for business faxing. Capitalizing on UUNET's extensive global Internet infrastructure, and featuring new technology jointly
developed by UUNET, Open Port Technology, and Ascend Communications, the new UUFAX service will employ over 100 specialized fax processors in business centers throughout the U.S.,
Europe, and Asia. The announcement, made at a World Trade Center news conference, marks a new era in business faxing-one which marries the economies of the Internet with the advanced
features of store-and-forward faxing services.
Sending faxes over an Internet network, rather than via traditional voice telephone networks, offers numerous benefits for businesses, including lower cost, the ability to track and manage fax
activity, and features such as delivery notification and broadcast capability.
According to IDC, the global fax transmission market is estimated to be $38 billion per year. "Until now, no company has made the investment to deploy a worldwide fax infrastructure which
takes advantage of Internet technology," said John Sidgmore, UUNET's CEO and WorldCom vice-chairman. "UUNET is making that investment and we intend to be a leader in the business fax
marketplace, which we believe is the next killer application for the Internet."
Fax technology from Open Port and Ascend
UUNET, Open Port, and Ascend jointly architected UUFAX for optimum performance within the UUNET infrastructure. Ascend modified their dial-up access concentrators to support outbound
calls, and to recognize incoming faxes for hand-off to the fax processors. The processors utilize Open Port software. Open Port has successfully deployed several of the world's largest fax
solutions. The company's software features a modular architecture with the scalability required to support the extensive UUNET backbone. Included within UUFAX is Open Port's customer
premise equipment (CPE) software which enables a business to combine its desktop, e-mail and standalone fax traffic through one common Internet connection. Customers also can integrate
their fax and Internet traffic over a single Internet connection. For smaller businesses, UUFAX will support standalone fax machines without any changes in operator procedures.
"This announcement represents the convergence of enterprise and Internet fax," said Randy Storch, chairman and CEO at Open Port. "UUNET is ushering in a new era of fax messaging that will
save millions of corporate dollars and streamline global communications. We applaud UUNET's vision, we support its leadership goals and we are pleased to be so closely involved."
About UUFAX
UUFAX supports a complete range of fax transmission capabilities, including: sending faxes from standalone fax machines to other fax machines or to desktop PC's, sending faxes from
desktop-to-desktop and desktop-to-standalone fax equipment; as well as sending e-mail and e-mail attachments as faxes. The service also supports broadcast faxing.
By consolidating communications through a single UUNET-installed CPE device, customers have a mechanism for monitoring and controlling their fax traffic. In addition, end-users can access
the UUFAX Web site to track the status of their faxes at anytime. Through the UUFAX CPE, corporate administrators also have access to reports and analysis of fax usage across the enterprise
and at the departmental level.
To date, other ISPs have offered fax services either on a limited geographic basis or by reselling fax service bureau offerings. In contrast, UUNET is deploying UUFAX over its own global private
Internet backbone. Since faxes never touch another ISP's network and do not go through the general Internet, UUFAX customers will realize greater security, reliability, and a high quality of
service.
Customer Trials
Bear, Stearns & Co., Chevron and SourceFinder have agreed to use the UUFAX service during the services beta test period, scheduled to begin this month.
Pricing & Availability
With no volume commitment, UUFAX is priced between 35-55% less than telephony-based faxing. With volume commitments, significantly greater savings are available. Savings over fax service
bureaus, which offer a more comparable feature set are even more dramatic. For example, UUFAXes sent within the U.S. are priced at 10 cents per minute (7.5 cents per page). Typical long
distance business rates within the U.S. are 15 cents per minute, while fax service bureaus typically charge 65 cents per page. UUFAXes from the U.S. to the UK will cost 19 cents per minute (14
cents per page). This compares with typical international long distance rates of 45 cents per minute, and service bureau pricing of over $1.00 per page. UUFAX requires a UUNET connection,
which can range from an analog dial line to a leased line connection. UUNET Internet connection charges start at $30 per month. All prices quoted are for "quantity one" service with no volume
commitments. Significant discounts are available for volume use.
The service will be available commercially later this year.
About Ascend Communications
Ascend Communications, Inc. develops, manufactures and sells wide area networking solutions for telecommunications carriers, Internet service providers and corporate customers worldwide.
For more information about Ascend and its products, please visit the Company's web site at ascend.com, or email info@ascend.com.
About Open Port Technology
With corporate headquarters in Chicago, Il., Open Port Technology is a privately-funded company, incorporated in 1994 to develop and market the industry's premier business-class fax
messaging solutions. The company targets its comprehensive messaging systems and technology at Network and Internet Systems Providers (NSPs/ISPs) and large multi-national businesses for
whom its solutions support mission-critical and high-volume fax applications. Based on the highly-regarded Harmony(TM) product line, Open Port provides fax solutions that support UNIX and
Windows NT operating environments and enable centralization of corporate fax management across LANs, WANs, Intranets and the Internet. Open Ports World Wide Web address is
openport.com. |
