Re: Which Fax Modem?

On 3 Oct, 20:19, "Gregg Hill" <bo...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi, Andrew!

I first heard of your products when you responded to a post of mine in June
regarding faxing over Vonage lines (which now works for all but one fax
machine after I replaced my Vonage phone adapter (Linksys) with the Motorola
VT2442).

Your web site and data sheets say that the IQ Express boards do V.34, JBIG,
high-resolution, and color, and I believe the web site has said that for
months. Are you saying they actually do NOT do that yet? Or that they do it,
but not yet with MS Shared Fax in SBS 2003?

You mentioned "...custom firmware which resolves many of the issues with
Microsoft fax products." Do you mean you now have an IQ Express board
specifically for Microsoft Fax, or are the improvements in all the IQ
Express boards?

Mainpine's comparison (http://www.mainpine.com/tr1034comparison.html) of
Mainpine vs. Brooktrout used a Windows 2000 SP4 PC with third-party software
and not the MS Shared Fax application. I emailed your sales folks last night
regarding how well your IQ Express works with SBS 2003. I asked, "Have your
fax boards been tested **specifically** with Windows Small Business Server
2003 and its built-in Shared Fax application? I know you have tested with
Windows Server 2003, upon which SBS 2003 is based, but sometimes SBS has
strange quirks."

The reason I mention specific testing with SBS 2003 is that many people in
here have posted that they had USR modems and other products that worked
perfectly under SBS 2000, but failed to work under SBS 2003 with the exact
same server and modem. All they did was upgrade to SBS 2003 and now their
fax failures went nuts. The SBS 2003 fax service apparently is not as
reliable as it was in SBS 2000, according to multiple posts in this
newsgroup.

So, how well do your IQ Express 2-port and 4-port cards work with SBS 2003
SP1 or SBS 2003 R2 servers and the built-in software? Do you have testing
done specifically with SBS 2003 and its Shared Fax application?

As far as the compatibility list is concerned, that is somewhat of a joke
when it comes to modems. In the newsgroups, you will see MS claims that your
modem has to be on the HCL, but several times I have seen Microsoft
recommend the USR Courier V. Everything modem to fix problems, and it is NOT
on the list. Go figure!

After comparing the Mainpine and Brooktrout specs into the wee hours of the
morning last night, I am leaning toward the Mainpine IQ Express 2-port
board, but to me, it is still an unknown product. I know that Brooktrout has
fixed my problems and problems at one of my clients, and a friend uses
Brooktrout exclusively without any problems. I am asking my other problem
client to try your product, but I need solid reassurance that testing has
actually been done on SBS 2003 with its Shared Fax application.

Thank you!

Gregg Hill

--
----------------

DISCLAIMER WARNING: the information contained in any reply I make is merely
an OPINION, one that I hope you will consider when you make a choice as to
what you will do on your systems or network.

**No recommendation is to be implied by my OPINION.**

There, that should cover it!

"Andrew Rinaldi" <andrew.rina...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:1191403264.010992.92810@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



On Oct 2, 5:40 pm, "SusanV" <svanal...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi all,

Reading old posts recommending fax modems, I know I want an external
serial
(out of USB ports on the server), and I seriously doubt they will approve
a
Courier V.Everything business class modem, are there any known issues
with
the much less pricey US Robotics 56Kbps V.92 Serial External Modem?

Can anyone clarify the difference for me? Besides that one is $99 and the
other is $269 I mean <grin>

This will be mainly for sending, TIA,

SusanV

Hi Susan,

Please take a look at the Mainpine IQ Express fax boards (http://
www.mainpine.com/products_IQE.html). We have recently completed
testing of our custom firmware which resolves many of the issues with
Microsoft fax products. If you contact our sales or support team they
will send you a copy of a test report that documents our process and
compatibility results. We offer a 30 day return policy so that you
can try the board in your server to see how it works out for you.

We have 1-port, 2-port, 4-port, and 8-port boards all in a 6.6" x 2.5"
board profile (http://www.mainpine.com/downloads/IQDimensions-in.jpg).

We are currently working on enhancements which will add V.34, JBIG,
and high-res support. We would also love to add colour.... but that
will require effort from Microsoft (sigh).

We support all the major fax software vendors and always outperform
Brooktrout and Eicon products.

We are not currently listed in the Windows Server Catalog - in my
opinion this has always been useless at identifying fax boards that
actually work with Microsoft Fax software. That said, I suspect that
we will eventually add our products to the catalog just so that we can
tick that marketing box !

Please feel free to call us for a discussion of your requirements. We
are staffed by people how have worked in the fax industry... some of
us for almost 30 years (gulp !).

Regards

ANDREW RINALDI
Mainpine Developer Support
USA +1 503 822 9944 | UK +44 8458 909438
andrew.rina...@xxxxxxxxxxxx |www.mainpine.com- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Hi Greg,

I'll attempt to answer your questions in turn;

The IQ Express family supports V.34, JBIG, high-res, and color 'on
board' (i.e. all of the fax protocol processing is undertaken on the
board and accessed through our Class 2.0/2.1 interface).
Historically, our RockForce family has also supported these features
BUT these were only available through the Class 1.0 interface which
requires off board processing by the fax application. That said,
these features have been widely supported by fax software - for
instance, we've been deploying V.34 and JBIG with Net SatisFAXtion for
the last 7 years.

Today, MS Fax does NOT support these four features. Our strategy with
MS Fax is to try and persuade Microsoft to implement new features
(such as color) and to provide firmware that enhances existing
features where possible (that's what we plan for V.34, JBIG, and high-
res).

The IQ Express firmware includes enhancements to address specific MS
Fax limitations and compatibility issues. These enhancements are
enabled when the board is installed in a system using MS Fax (i.e. all
IQ Express boards have this feature today).

Mainpine and our customers have tested Windows XP, Windows 2003
Server, Windows Vista, and Windows 2008 Server. In all cases we have
tested SBS and Enterprise editions where appropriate. Today, we are
focused on 32bit systems although the IQ Express installs and works in
64bit systems (that said, only a very small number of customers are
actually deploying 64bit systems). Although the IQ Express appears
'new' it's been shipping to our OEM customers for almost 12 months....
we have several thousand boards in the field.

I'd suggest you call and talk to our support manager Derrek Sypert.
He can tell you exactly what testing has been undertaken with SBS 2003
and answer any questions that you have. Derrek has many years
experience and has worked for a number of the larger fax software
companies. Later today I hope to publish a hyperlink to our MS Fax
test report.... I believe this was signed off by our management team
last night.... this report contains details of the tests that we
undertook and the results that we obtained (my copy of the results
show that we had one 13-page fax failed in our 2000 x 13-page fax
broadcast test).

We win a lot of business against Brooktrout.... especially when people
are having problems. The only real way you will find out whether our
board is better is to try one. If you are unhappy then returning the
board within 30 days will get you a refund of the purchase price....
so, all you have to invest is the time and a small amount on shipping.

Please let me know if you require any further clarification.

Regards,

ANDREW RINALDI
Mainpine Developer Support
USA +1 503 822 9944 | UK +44 8458 909438
andrew.rinaldi@xxxxxxxxxxxx | www.mainpine.com

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