Broadcast facsimile machine is the power to send a single fax to more than one person at the same time [ reservoir : Answers.com ] . Somefax machinescan rake a written document once and broadcast it to multiple recipient . But , when most people talk about broadcast facsimile machine , they ’re referring to third - party armed service that use facsimile server applied science to send a single facsimile machine to 100 or thousands of recipient at once .
Broadcast facsimile is a potent tool for public intercourse professionals , who routinely send meter - sensitive story ideas to hundreds of aim diary keeper and publications at the same time . grant to a report byDavidson Consulting , broadcast fax was a $ 200 million industry worldwide in 2006 .
In this HowStuffWorks article , we ’ll face at the technology behind broadcast fax , its real - world program and the legal subject surrounding its use and misuse .
Let ’s start with a facial expression at fax servers , the key engineering behind programme fax .
Fax Servers and Broadcast Fax Services
Fax servers power broadcast fax . They ’re machine that lean special software system to electronically treat and store incoming and forthcoming faxes [ source : Technology Association of Georgia ] . The most of import problem of a fax server is to commute digital files into analog ( or sound line ) fax signals that can be sent to schematic fax machines .
Faxes are tricky because they can be sent and have by different form of machines that operate using different protocols and standards . computer , for instance , use something calledInternet Protocol ( IP)to send and receive data point over a web . With Internet Protocol , an forthcoming message is chopped up into small packet of data that are individually routed to the destination where they are reassembled using something calledTransmission Control Protocol ( TCP)[source : SearchVoIP ] .
modernistic facsimile machines are digital – meaning they commune in 1s and 0s like computing machine – but they send and receive that digital data over analog phone furrow . Therefore , for a computer to put across with a fax machine , all data point needs to be converted to an analogue signal that the fax political machine can interpret . That ’s the line of work of the facsimile server .
The fax waiter functions as agatewaybetween the IP estimator web and the analog telephone web . This technology is sometimes called FoIP ( facsimile over Internet Protocol ) . Read our clause onFoIPfor an in - depth explanation of how FoIP works .
Here are some common features of fax waiter :
[ beginning : Technology Association of Georgia ]
Broadcast Fax Economics
Like most stage business determination , this one comes down to economics . The company needs to weigh the costs of purchasing and lot facsimile machine - host hardware and software package versus the monetary value of a third - party facsimile broadcasting service .
High - end enterprise fax servers can cost as much as $ 25,000 [ informant : CNet Shopper ] . In - house facsimile machine server might also command additional IT personnel or at least extra breeding for existing IT staff .
facsimile machine broadcasting services typically charge per pageboy with discount for high - book facsimile machine campaigns . A fax circularise to a hundred recipient might be $ .09 per page , while a fax broadcast to several thousand recipient could be as humiliated as $ .02 per page . Most services only charge a client for successful fax , excluding any wrong number , busy sign or other computer error during the broadcast .
With facsimile broadcast medium services , the client manages facsimile campaigns through a World Wide Web interface . Here , the guest can upload Excel spreadsheets or.csv(comma - differentiate note value ) files to create posting listing for different fax run . The broadcast facsimile machine service stores all of these lists for easy admission in the time to come .
Clients then habituate the entanglement interface to upload the document(s ) they want to fax , whether it ’s in Microsoft Word or Excel , an epitome file or a PDF . Some broadcast fax services aid the customer create a cover mainsheet with the company ’s logotype , letterhead and personalize recipient information .
Like in - house facsimile machine host , broadcast facsimile services let clients to schedule facsimile machine legal transfer for a certain day and time or for off - peak hour overnight . Broadcast facsimile machine services can also attribute charge codes to facsimile jobs , track fax hunting expedition and produce reports on how many faxes went through , which ones should be resent and which ones should be removed from the inclination .
Some fax programme overhaul also avail clients comply with Federal and State anti - spam regulation by automatically hit recipients who have opted - out of receiving further faxes or who are listed on " Do Not Send " database .
Now let ’s seem at some of the uncouth business organisation software of programme facsimile machine .
Broadcast Fax Applications
Thepublic relationsindustry is one of the heaviest users of broadcast facsimile machine . As we mentioned before , public relations professionals often send history idea andpress releasesto dozen or hundreds of journalists and publications at once .
Popular programme facsimile services likePR Newswirehelp Porto Rico professionals target their PR campaigns by take from hundreds of thousand of store journalist contact .
Crisis communicationsis another branch of public relations that use broadcast fax . In the upshot of an emergency or disaster , the public relations section of a party can hire broadcast facsimile machine as one of several way of life to reach employees and constituents .
There are dozens of ship’s company that tender mass notification oremergency notificationservices that can instantly send thousands of message across all available platforms : e - post , earpiece , SMS and fax .
Broadcast fax is peculiarly useful for any manufacture that rely heavy on fax technology to handle internal and external communication . Real estate , for example , is still a facsimile - heavy industry . agentive role can fax listings to multiple clients . Regional director for enceinte tangible - estate of the realm house can fax reports to multiple property managers [ author : Xerox Corp ] .
Broadcast facsimile has always been popular for targeted ad and forwarding :
facsimile advertising , however , has come under increasing sound scrutiny over the past tenner , leading to rigid Federal and State anti - spam laws and dear lawsuits . In the next section , we ’ll look at the legal limitation on broadcast facsimile .
Broadcast Fax and the Law
The law was amended with the release of the Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005 . Under this new law , unasked fax can be sent to businesses with which the node has an " established business kinship " or EBR [ reference : Federal Communications Commission ] .
That ’s a fancy style of tell that it does n’t take much to demonstrate a concern relationship . No money has to change hand . Simply by enquire about a product at a World Wide Web site or applying to a job is enough to establish a family relationship between an individual and a troupe .
Likewise , the FCC establishes some ground rules for obtaining fax numbers from companies and mortal with whom you have an EBR :
[ source : Federal Communications Commission ]
The programme fax industry has been tally hard by several multi - million - dollar lawsuits . This has fright many companies away from using broadcast fax , stimulate a exorbitant downslope in programme fax outgo over the preceding couple of years .
In 2005 , companies spent $ 240 million on program facsimile worldwide . In 2006 , that numeral was down 16.7 per centum to $ 200 million . By 2010 , expert predict that broadcast facsimile spending will be down to $ 110 million .
For more information about broadcast fax and related subject , turn back out the inter-group communication on the next Thomas Nelson Page .
