Two more fax services debut
AT&T and Internet service provider GTE Internetworking introduce new Internet-based facsimile services.
Both fax services let customers send and receive faxes from their desktop computer, email system, the Web, or fax machines.
Several other companies, including Expedite, Cable & Wireless, MCI and the UUNet division of telecommunications giant WorldCom already offer Internet fax services.
GTE Internetworking, formerly BBN Planet and a unit of telephone company GTE (GTE), also announced a premium Internet access service for consumers and small businesses that includes two email addresses for $24.95 a month. GTE's fax service, called DestinationFAX uses Internet technology from NetCentric.
And another AT&T service, called AT&T's IP gateway, connects corporate local area networks directly to the Internet over the phone giant's backbone. It also extends messaging services to LAN users that don't use the company's proprietary service.
The goal is to extend the life of existing corporate applications while companies decide which ones to move to the Internet.
"We see it as a way to get customers on the Web and enable their legacy applications," said Kathleen Earley, an AT&T vice president. "It's a clean, simple way to get them started while they re-engineer their businesses."