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September 1998


ProtoFax 3.1

ProtoNet, Inc.
22900 Ventura Blvd., Suite 175
Woodland Hills, CA 91364
Ph.: 800-551-0636
Fax: 818-5919217
www.protonet.com

Price: Single port ($299) through unlimited 8 port ($895).

RATINGS (0-5)
Installation: 5
Documentation: 3
GUI: 4.5
Features: 3.5
Overall: B-


Managing outbound faxes is a lot like being a principal on the last day of school - all of your subjects want out as soon as possible, but your job is to funnel them through limited ports, ensure that they all take the correct route, and be available if any there are failed recipients.

Short of investing in a full-fledged enterprise fax solution, software that accomplishes these tasks is difficult to find, but ProtoFax 3.1 may be the answer. It costs less than a simple PC, it does not require costly fax boards, and it installs well without brain surgery.

INSTALLATION & DOCUMENTATION
Installing ProtoFax is not difficult. Because we tested a final beta copy of version 3.1, we had to install version 3.0 first and download the upgrade from ProtoNet's Web site. The actual 3.0 program came zipped on a single floppy disk, and uncompressed to use less than 5 megabytes of hard disk space. We placed ProtoFax on a 266 MHz Pentium running Windows NT 4.0 Server, a platform we chose purely for stability, but the software runs equally well under Windows 95 or NT Workstation. For Windows 95, system requirements include a 486-class PC or higher, at least 16 MB of RAM, 10 MB of hard disk space, and a standard Windows fax modem. For versions of Windows NT, requirements include a Pentium and 32MB of RAM.

Under NT, however, you must log in as "administrator" to configure ProtoFax. Users also have the option of configuring ProtoFax as a desktop application or as an NT service, but because our LAN already has another fax service running, we elected to use the application option. Meanwhile, the ProtoFax server made inquiries for our mail server address, for a system administrator's e-mail address, and various other options. After configuring user accounts (up to 300 with the base single-line version), administrators need only install the print driver on client PCs.

Another part of installing ProtoFax is determining which methods the server uses to accept and deliver outgoing faxes. There are four ways to send faxes to the queue: POP mail, SMTP, iSMTP, and a "scan" directory. Various options for individual users must be configured regardless of which method is chosen, and the three e-mail options require configuring ProtoFax's built-in e-mail client (for POP) or mail server (for both forms of SMTP). Delivery options include account-specified fax numbers and numeric or alphanumeric pagers. All four of the queue options will transmit an e-mail delivery confirmation to the sender.

Since our upgrade to version 3.1 was still in beta, ProtoNet hadn't yet written its help file, so we relied on version 3.0's help file - and we're hoping to see improvements with the newer version. The 3.0 help file is entirely online - which we don't hold against anyone - but it is not hypertext, technical concepts are rarely explained, we found several blatant grammar and spelling errors, and there is a severe lack of clear, well organized explanation. Fortunately, ProtoFax's GUI is intuitive, and the company's technical staff seemed enthusiastic and patient while giving (free!) work-hours telephone support. We're told that changes to the help file are coming, which we hope is true: Besides lousy marketing, nothing kills a good CTI application like sub-par manuals.

FEATURES & OPERATIONAL TESTING
Our favorite feature of ProtoFax 3.1 is its ease-of-use. The GUI is well designed, all features seem intuitive, and there is only the slightest of learning curves. We like the address book, which is stripped of frivolous options, and we like the hassle-free method of adding new users to the system. ProtoFax also puts free CGI code on their Web site - administrators can download the code and paste it into their own site, along with HTML code for forms. This way, a company can have Web fax-back services, or an ISP can offer IP faxing through their own site and call it an enhanced service.

ProtoFax has a great GUI. The main screen is very small and takes up little desktop real estate. Choosing "utilities" and then "server" from this menu will bring up three panes: User management, services, and system default. The "services" menu brings up four other panes, from where you can select the method of sending faxes to the queue.

While the built-in SMTP server is clever, unless your organization already uses SMTP (or if you currently have no e-mail at all), we think it's more sensible to use POP mail and/or the scanning directory to deliver faxes to the queue. Most ISPs support POP mail, so why should your organization's users need another address? And, why should your MIS manager worry about another server that might crash? With POP, ProtoFax will scan the given user-reception account at administrator-defined intervals, and will automatically put these messages into the queue. The scan directory is equally simple and circumvents e-mail entirely: There is a privileged directory where authorized users can paste properly formatted .txt files which, like the POP or SMTP accounts, ProtoFax will scan at determined intervals. HTML files can also go into the scan directory, but they must also wield a text extension.

Other features contribute to ProtoFax's efficiency. Besides the fax or pager number defined in their accounts, users can enter a fax number within the e-mail message, which ProtoFax will always use before the default value. Users also have address books, with an unlimited capacity for creating groups, which is quite useful for broadcast faxing.

System administrators have more security options. Every user can be assigned filters and rules, such as definitions of which types of numbers they may fax to and who may or may not send faxes to specific numbers. Theoretically, administrators could write code to lock the scan queue from all but one super user, create a secondary queue open to all users and forward data in the secondary queue to the main one. This would act as a buffer between outbound faxes and users who may accidentally delete or reorganize them. Administrators can also use the queue manager and event log to see who's sending what and if the fax was successful.

The print driver also has creative uses. Because ProtoFax is a network-based solution, a user wanting to send a fax from New York to Los Angeles can print over the corporate WAN to a server located at a San Diego office, which will in turn fax the document to Los Angeles, saving the company money. Users can also incorporate standard mail-merge tools in programs such as Microsoft's Word and Access, which, when combined with the print driver, turn ProtoFax into a powerful broadcast medium. ProtoFax technicians claim the ability to send more than 400,000 faxes in a month.

From your finance department's view, perhaps the most exciting feature of ProtoFax is that it works fine with standard fax modems, which typically transmit at 28.8 KBPS. ProtoFax ships with up to eight ports, and even complex individual faxes are rendered in about 20 seconds. As mentioned, the base product is equipped to handle 300 users, so if they all wanted to send a fax at once under ideal network conditions, the entire job would take about 15 hours. This isn't a realistic scenario, but it demonstrates a point: For its price, ProtoFax works at warp speed.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
Maybe it's just our pipe dream, but if ProtoNet could add the feature of file attachments, then the software would be far more valuable for a corporation's internal use and for ISPs' enhanced services. Meanwhile, ProtoFax version 3.5 is due later this year, which will include a module to accept inbound faxes as well. We hope to see revamped documentation, which is currently ProtoFax's weakest link. Any combination of these improvements and others could make ProtoFax more competitive with enterprise fax solutions like RightFax, OmTool, and others.

CONCLUSION
For organizations hoping to use industrial PCs, commercial fax boards, and more than eight ports, ProtoFax isn't the right choice. (We hope to see some of these improvements with version 3.5.) However, its features are powerful and easy to use, and its price is an obvious advantage. Still, in its existing condition, we'd recommend ProtoFax only for a niche market without serious inbound needs - not as a mainstream fax solution.







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