SEND THAT FAX VIA INTERNET THE INTERNET SHOULD BE A natural way to send faxes. It's much cheaper than phone lines, especially for heavy international usage, and, unlike phone traffic, fax transmissions don't get garbled by the Net. But until now, you've been able to send a fax over the Net only from a PC using a combination of special software and a service such as Netcentric. The $6,000 Panafax UF770i from Panasonic (800 742-8086) could change that. The versatile Panafax can send faxes as E-mail messages, connect to another UF770i over the Internet, send conventional faxes over phone lines, or use a remote UF770i to relay a fax to a dial-up machine. Right now, the UF770i can talk directly over the Internet only to another Panafax machine. For this technology to realize its potential, there will have to be a standard that allows different manufacturers' machines to talk to each other as easily across the Internet as G3 faxes now connect over dial-up lines. Panasonic has submitted a proposal to the Net's standard-setting body, the Internet Engineering Task Force, and a formal proposal from the panel is due soon. RELATED ITEMS PHOTO: Panasonic UF770i Fax

Updated Oct. 16, 1997 by bwwebmaster
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