business, if you get a lot of calls requesting printed information, you should consider FOD.
FOD systems deliver documents stored in a dedicated repository (and, occasionally, corporate data that isn't normally stored in faxable formats, such as PCX and TIFF). Callers can dial in from their fax machine's handset and get documents returned during the same call, saving phone costs for the sender. More typically, they choose documents and enter the fax number using a Touch-Tone phone. The FOD system then transmits the requested documents on a separate line.
FOD systems for in-house use are often sold in turnkey form, with preconfigured voice and fax boards already installed in a computer. You can also put one together using Visual Basic-like development toolkits. We looked at DOS-/Windows-based software that is also available in kit form (i.e., the software vendor also sells voice and fax boards).
FOD Facts
Conceptually, FOD systems are simple. The voice board receives DTMF tones generated by the caller's handset and passes them to the FOD software, which reads a
nd plays back the appropriate voice messages stored on the PC's hard drive. (None of the reviewed programs accepts pulses from rotary dialers.) When the caller identifies a specific document, the FOD software loads it and sends it to the fax board for transmission. The fax board then transmits the document to the phone number specified by the caller.
To put the four FOD systems we tested on equal footing, we ran all our tests on an IBM PS/1 57C, a 33-/66-MHz 486DX2 system with 700 MB of disk space and 16 MB of RAM. The machine was equipped with a one-line Dialogic D/41D voice card and a one-line GammaLink GammaFax CPi/100 fax card (Ibex Technologies' FactsLine required a second Dialogic board). Two outgoing fax lines is a more typical setup, but little is gained by testing the second line, since the relevant queuing issues exist on a one-line system.
To flood the system with requests, we made three calls in rapid succession, requesting two one-page documents during each call. We measured fax-throu
ghput times for each pair of document transmissions and then averaged the results. We sent all faxes to the same machine, a Ricoh RF 860. VP Express was slightly faster than the other programs at transmitting faxes held in a queue, but the difference in performance among these solutions was negligible.
All four programs have some features in common. For starters, each is best run on a dedicated machine. Even in these days of gigabyte-capacity drives, disk-space requirements alone make putting FOD software on a user's PC unrealistic. Also, FOD software doesn't get along well with other programs. Almost all these programs specifically discourage the use of memory management software, and with good reason: They don't work well -- if at all -- with a memory manager loaded.
None of these programs is easy to install. Be ready to spend at least two days shaking out all the software conflicts and putting together a decent voice-menu tree. Once our installation wars were over with, though, each program per
formed well. All worked with the basic file formats typically used in faxing -- PCX, TIFF, and ASCII -- without any trouble. Each also proved reliable in the face of disconnections and other failures.
Copia International's FaxFacts
All these programs were troublesome to install, but Copia International's FaxFacts 5.0, which requires you to make directories in DOS and manually invoke the installation routine for each program disk, took the installation-complexity prize. Once in place, however, this MS-DOS program worked well.
FaxFacts comes with a Windows interface, but it limits you to printing and viewing faxes and playing back voice messages. All the real action happens from the program's MS-DOS interface.
In our tests, we found FaxFacts to be a solid, reliable performer. For example, you can call from one phone and have FaxFacts send a document while you're still on the line. Still, if you want to make significant changes to your setup, such as add-ing new menu items
, you need to bring the program down.
FaxFacts also does a decent job of tracking its work, saving daily data into dBase DBF-compatible files. However, to generate the best reports, you might need to buy a dBase-compatible report writer. We found FaxFacts' reporting module to be insufficiently detailed for serious data tracking.
The program supports broadcast faxes using ASCII mail-merge lists. While it would be better if FaxFacts could work directly with data from a personal information manager (PIM), this is still a handy feature. Particularly noteworthy is the fact that it can fax directly from an ASCII file.
FaxFacts requires relatively few system resources, as FOD programs go. You can run it on as little as a 386SX, but we don't recommend using the computer for anything else.
Ibex's FactsLine for Windows
Ibex Technologies' FactsLine for Windows 2.0 is by far the simplest of these four programs to install. Unlike the others, it uses a standard Windows installa
tion routine. The Windows interface makes it far easier to configure than thez other programs, which require you to fight your way through scripting languages to call data from a database or to change the menu tree. With FactsLine, these jobs are a breeze. You can automatically turn off menu items leading to old documents, and FactsLine lets you reconfigure the system, and even update the voice-menu tree and documents, while you're on-line.
As you might expect, FactsLine, with its dBase databases and Windows interface, comes with a variety of easily accessible reports. These reports can be displayed on-screen, printed, or (which we were amused to find) faxed.
But all this comes at the cost of system resources. You won't want to run FactsLine on anything less than a 33-MHz 486DX with 8 MB of RAM. More of both, as always, would be better.
When all is said and done, though, FactsLine is the best of the group. It costs more -- in addition to its heftier system requirements, it uses a minimum of
two voice boards -- but you'll find its ease of use, flexibility, and reporting power to be worth the extra expense. Highly recommended.
Nuntius's CommandFax
Nuntius's CommandFax 3.5 handles all the usual FOD jobs (e.g., sending requested faxes on the same call or via a return call) with aplomb. That's a good thing, because getting CommandFax to that point can be a pain. While there should be a Windows version of CommandFax out by the time you read this, the DOS version we tested will have you manually tweaking configuration files before you're done.
CommandFax is also the most demanding of these four programs when it comes to system resources. For example, it won't work well with any expanded-memory manager (according to the documentation), but it requires at least 1 MB of expanded memory. For people with old LIM expanded-memory boards, that's fine, but others will be left in a quandary.
CommandFax's reporting tools are nonexistent. While the program keeps copious logs
in dBase format with FoxPro-compatible indexes, you'll need another program to make sense of the data.
That said, CommandFax has a pair of shining virtues that may make it the best choice for some users. Unlike the other programs, CommandFax can use network fax servers for its outgoing faxes (Telephone Response Technology has a higher-end product that does this, too), and LAN users can send out faxes via the program's fax card. CommandFax manages this remarkable feat by using Intel and DCA Communications' Communicating Application Specification (CAS). This additional capacity makes CommandFax an ideal choice for any office that needs to send ready-made and impromptu faxes alike to a large number of customers.
Telephone Response Technologies' VP Express
VP Express (VPX) 1.1 is a good middle-of-the-road product. While it doesn't have all the virtues of FactsLine, in our testing it was marginally the fastest at handling an overload of fax calls. VPX is also straightforward to i
nstall and maintain -- if you can keep an eye on it. While the program has the simplest Windows interface of the group, some of its setup query boxes aren't what they appear to be. The menus don't specify what will happen when you try certain buttons and other menu choices.
Although the manual says you need a 75-MHz or faster computer for decent performance, we found that VPX actually ran better than its competition on our supposedly suboptimal 33-/66-MHz 486DX2 system. VPX is also very flexible at handling incoming lines. While CommandFax and FaxFacts might have you negotiating arcane commands for each line, VPX has one easy-to-use window display that makes managing separate lines simple.
Unlike the other programs, VPX can be expanded into separate fax and voice-mail systems. While full-featured voice mail is separately priced ($395), small offices looking for a catch-all solution might prefer VPX over the other programs.
VPX also has adequate reporting capabilities. But if you want to work
over the numbers to see what your customers are up to, you need separate DBMS or reporting software. All told, we still prefer Ibex's FactsLine for its fast installation and superior ease of use.
PRODUCT INFORMATION
CommandFax 3.5................$800
(per line, up to four lines; $400 per multiline port thereafter)
Nuntius Corp.
St. Louis, MO
(314) 968-1009
fax: (314) 968-3163
fax on demand: (314) 776-7076
Circle 1092 on Inquiry Card.
FactsLine for Windows 2.0.....$4790 and up
Ibex Technologies, Inc.
El Dorado Hills, CA
(800) 289-9998
(916) 939-8888
fax: (916) 939-8899
fax on demand: (916) 939-8875
Circle 1093 on Inquiry Card.
FaxFacts 5.0..................$3800
(two lines each for fax and voice)
Copia International, Ltd.
Wheaton, IL
(800) 689-8898
(708) 682-8898
fax: (708) 665-9841
fax on demand: (708) 924-3030
Circle 1094 on Inquiry Card.
VP Express 1.1................$1295 (introductory)
(eight lines voice;
10 lines fax)
Telephone Response Technologies, Inc.
Roseville, CA
(800) 878-3947
(916) 784-7777
fax: (916) 784-7781
fax on demand: (916) 784-7004
trtsales@trt.com
http://www.trt.com
Circle 1095 on Inquiry Card.
Dialogic
Parsippany, NJ
(201) 993-3000
fax: (201) 993-3093
Circle 1096 on Inquiry Card.
Self-Serve Information
