Delrina's Windows fax package offers workgroups easy access to shared modems and room to grow
Stan Miastkowski
For good or ill, faxes have become a fact of life. But in a small business or corporate environment, equipping every computer with its own fax modem can mean installation and support nightmares; and then there's the cost of a fax-dedicated telephone line for each user. So, having one or more centralized fax modems connected to a LAN has become an attractive alternative. Unfortunately, the network fax software market waters have been more than a bit muddy.
At the high end of the market are products like Castelle FaxPress and Intel Net Satisfaxtion, which can cost $2000 or more and are designed for large networks and high fax traffic. Some products in this class require proprietar
y hardware and an experienced network guru to install and maintain the system. Early forays into the low-cost end of the market, such as the initial version of Nuko Information Systems' Message Port, offered a low price but limited features. That's changing, as exemplified by WinFax Pro for Networks, as well as by updates of Message Port and lower prices on other packages (see the text box "Other Faxes Received").
A Familiar Face
WinFax Pro for Networks has an advantage over other low-cost network fax packages, in part because it is built around WinFax Pro 3.0, one of the industry's best-selling Windows fax software packages since its introduction in 1990. WinFax Pro for Networks adds the "hooks" necessary for network use but retains the original product's ease of installation and use. The network version also retains the core set of WinFax Pro features, including the ability to send faxes directly from any Windows application and combine documents from multiple applications into a single outgoing f
ax. There's a phone-book utility that can be shared over the network, as well as fax annotation and forwarding and a full-featured cover-page designer. You can also schedule fax transmissions for low-phone-rate hours, as well as broadcast individual faxes or groups of faxes to many recipients automatically.
For $399, WinFax Pro for Networks provides a server component (both DOS and Windows versions) and two network client packages. Each server can support up to four fax modems. For a small office environment or a small workgroup in a corporation, that's a logical and inexpensive way to get started.
Scalability sets WinFax Pro apart from its low-cost fax-modem-sharing software competitors. As fax requirements evolve, you can add to a WinFax Pro for Networks installation in a building-block fashion. Any workstation on the network can be a WinFax Pro for Networks server. Additional server packages cost $179 each. Client software ranges from $99.90 per seat for a 10-user license to $85.98 each for a
50-user license. Existing WinFax Pro 3.0 users can upgrade to WinFax Pro for Networks clients for free: You call Delrina for a new serial number that makes your copy of WinFax Pro 3.0 network-aware. There's a limit of four servers (up to 16 fax modems total) in any one WinFax Pro for Networks workgroup, and an absolute limit of 255 users.
Getting On the Network
WinFax Pro for Networks works on any IPX- or NetBIOS-based DOS network. This includes the usual list of popular server-based and peer-to-peer LANs, including Novell NetWare, Artisoft LANtastic, and Microsoft Windows for Workgroups. Because of the way it uses the network, WinFax Pro for Networks works equally well with both types of LANs. Any station can be the WinFax Pro for Networks server as long as it has a common drive accessible to WinFax Pro for Networks clients. For example, using the DOS version, you can turn an "obsolete" 286-based system into a capable WinFax server. (After all, pumping data to and from telephone lines doesn't exac
tly require Pentium-level processing power.)
For this review, I installed multiple copies of WinFax Pro for Networks on a five-station LANtastic 5.0 network, with two stations configured as servers under Windows. One server (a Gateway 33-MHz 386) had both an internal Intel Satisfaxtion 400 fax modem and an external Microcom Deskporte fax modem. The second server (a 66-MHz 486DX2-based system) had an external ATI 14400 ETC-E fax modem. For several weeks, I used this setup for my day-to-day fax traffic, sending and receiving a variety of short and long faxes using all three modems and three different telephone lines.
Overall, WinFax Pro for Networks' performance (both imaging time and transmission time) was basically identical to that of the stand-alone version. This wasn't surprising, since WinFax Pro for Networks handles all imaging and storage locally. I simulated a heavy load by having one of the servers perform an involved database sort at the same time it was sending and receiving faxes. Whi
le performance slowed (as expected), it was much the same as it would have been on a non-networked system. The bottom line is that, except for the potential wait for a free fax modem, WinFax Pro for Networks is no slouch in the performance department.
WinFax Pro for Networks is one of the easiest-to-install LAN packages I've used. I had the two servers and five clients installed and running on a LANtastic 5.0 network in less than an hour. You set up the server component on the PC that has the fax modem or modems that you want network users to be able to access. The installation leads you step by step through the process. Other than giving your workgroup a unique name, selecting and setting up your fax modem, and selecting the maximum number of users that can access it, you have few major decisions to make.
WinFax Pro has always been versatile at setting up modems, and the network version is no exception. Setup automatically detects whether you have a Class 1, Class 2, or CAS (the Intel-specific
Communications Applications Specification) fax modem installed and pops up a menu of specific related modems. The initial release of WinFax Pro for Networks has over 300 fax modems in its menu. If your modem isn't among them, you can haul out your fax modem's manual and set things up manually. (You can specify whether a particular modem is send-only, receive-only, or send-and-receive, or even if it's private to the server.) There are other (optional) settings as well. If you have multiple fax modems, you can separate them into groups and specify which should be used first if all are available. This option comes in handy if one of your modems is connected to a long-distance line with the lowest rates.
Cramming RAM
There is one "gotcha" to the WinFax Pro for Networks server software: It requires a DOS TSR program that takes about 90 KB of RAM. Luckily, setup gives you the option of running the server TSR in UMBs (upper memory blocks) or in extended memory. If you're running a loaded system, this could
require some tweaking, especially if you're using a memory manager like 386Max or QEMM. On my server, all the UMBs were already in use, and my copy of 386Max wasn't set up to supply extended memory. Furthermore, I didn't have enough room to run the server in low memory. Reconfiguring 386Max to supply extended memory solved the problem nicely.
One unusual aspect of the server installation is that you don't set up user accounts--except for a client account on the server if you also want to use the server PC for directly sending faxes. This saves lots of time, but the product's unique approach to network security will make some control-oriented system administrators a bit nervous, especially in large installations. Users set up accounts as they install the client software on their workstations. That's not as strange as it seems at first, because each client must have a unique serial number. That means, for example, that someone couldn't make a copy of the client software and run it from another machine o
n the network. The server would reject the duplicate serial number.
Serving the Client
Setting up the client side of WinFax Pro for Networks is almost identical to installing WinFax Pro 3.0 for Windows. The setup detects that the network server version has already been installed, so there's no need to choose a modem. The only additional network-specific chore is to specify your network E-mail system if you're using one. WinFax Pro for Networks supports all VIM (e.g., Lotus cc:Mail), MAPI (e.g., Microsoft Mail), and Novell MHS-based E-mail systems.
Finishing up the client installation requires a few additional choices, such as choosing a default cover page, filling in default fax-header information, and deciding whether you want to automatically enable the OCR (optical character recognition) that's built into the package. Delrina's OCR, based on Caere's AnyFax technology, is accurate and fast. Of course, whether you'll want to use OCR depends largely on the type of fax traffic you receive. I u
sually receive short faxes that I read and discard. But if you need to store or edit faxes, OCR's ability to turn graphical fax images into editable text can be handy.
After installation, you can create and send faxes just as with the stand-alone package. You can fax directly from Windows applications by using the WinFax printer driver, which is automatically installed during setup. If you have more than one fax modem on your network, there's only one additional step when you send a fax. You can choose to use the first available modem, a specific modem, or the first-available modem in a group (if the servers have been set up that way).
Saving Server Cycles
When you tell WinFax Pro for Networks to send a fax, the package checks for a free modem (or for whether a specified modem is free). If a modem is free, the fax gets routed to the server and immediately sent. But what happens if it can't immediately send the fax is unusual. Unlike with competing packages, the pending outgoing fax isn't stor
ed in the server until the fax modem becomes free. Instead, it's stored locally on the workstation. This has both advantages and disadvantages.
One advantage is security. Since the fax isn't stored on the server, it can't be accessed by someone who has access to that machine. Another advantage is that the server doesn't need to have large amounts of free hard disk space for storing outgoing faxes.
On the minus side, network traffic increases, because the client continually polls the server until the fax modem frees up. This isn't a problem for small or lightly used networks, but it can create performance problems on large, heavily used networks with lots of fax traffic; the network can get bogged down with lots of packets looking for a free fax modem. Delrina says this situation will be handled soon with an optional WinFax Pro for Networks module that will implement true server-based fax queuing. It should be available by the time you read this, but pricing wasn't available at press time.
The Incoming-Fax Shuffle
Faxing gets a lot more complicated when it comes to handling incoming transmissions--because of a limitation of fax technology, not the product. Unfortunately, the easiest way to route incoming faxes to their intended recipients is to install the WinFax Pro for Networks server on a PC used by someone whose designated responsibility is to handle incoming faxes--what the setup calls the "fax receptionist," who views faxes and sends them to the correct recipient.
The easiest way to do this is via E-mail. But if your network does not have E-mail, WinFax Pro for Networks can send faxes within the network: The fax receptionist refaxes the incoming fax to the recipient. This sounds strange, but it works well. Of course, the major problem with all these manual methods is that incoming faxes are far from secure. Anyone can read them. But that's true with a standard fax machine, too.
There are ways to automatically route incoming faxes directly to the correct recipient on the
network, but the process isn't simple, at least at the present time. It also requires special hardware. DTMF and DID (direct inward dial) direct incoming-fax routing requires Intel Satisfaxtion modems on the WinFax Pro for Networks server and sending fax machines that support direct routing. (At present, few do.) The fax sender has to enter an extension number and then send the fax, which gets directly routed to the correct recipient.
There is hope for a simpler way in the future. The CCITT, which sets international telecommunications standards, is working on an automatic fax-routing protocol that would work with an expanded version of the telephone company's Caller ID. Delrina says WinFax Pro for Networks will support that service when it becomes available. But realistically, for most users of WinFax Pro for Networks, manual routing of incoming faxes is what you'll need to use, inconvenient or not.
The WinFax Future
By the time you read this, client support should be available for both WinFa
x Pro for DOS and WinFax Pro for Macintosh, as well as the above-mentioned server fax queuing. Further out, the company plans modules that offer enhanced system administration and security, as well as a module for modem pooling, sharing modems used for data communications.
The easy installation and scalability of WinFax Pro for Networks make it a logical choice for a variety of networks. Its ability to grow with and adapt to changing company needs is unique. It won't meet the needs of everyone, especially large corporate network installations with special needs (e.g., a customer-support department). But for many users, WinFax Pro for Networks is an elegant solution to the thorny problem of LAN-based faxing.
The Facts
WinFax Pro for Networks
Basic package (one
server and two clients) $399
Additional server $179
10-user package $999
25-user package $2249
50-user package $4299
Free network upgrade for existing WinFax Pro 3.0 users
Delrina Corp.
6830 Via Del Oro, Suite 240
San Jose, CA 95119
(800) 268-6082
(408) 363-2345
fax: (408) 363-2340
Screen: Except for the multiple modem-status lines at the top of the Fax Status Screen, using WinFax Pro for Networks is virtually identical to using WinFax Pro 3.0. You can also see a graphical representation of networked fax resources, as shown in the background here.
Stan Miastkowski is a BYTE consulting editor. He has wide experience in connectivity and communications and is the coauthor of the Windows for Workgroups Bible (Addison-Wesley, 1993). You can reach him on the Internet or BIX at stanm@ bix.com, or via MCI Mail at 530-9979.
WinFax Pro Hits the Network
