FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE:
Media Contacts:
|
Craig Douglass Multifunction Products Association Tel: 310-544-2628 Fax: 310-544-4787 Web: http://www.mfpa.org |
Raymond Lutz Email: raylutz@mfpa.org |
Multifunction Products Association Event
Shows a Bright Future for Color Fax Products
SAN DIEGO, Oct. 19, 2000 – Color fax machines are clearly making the
leap over ordinary black-and-white.
The Multifunction Products
Association (MFPA) announced today that several of its vendor members have
proved that it is possible to fax color documents back and forth between
different color fax products.
In addition, the group’s
tests found that the fidelity of the color image scanned into one color fax
machine and then faxed and printed to a separate color fax machine was
extremely good.
Showing that various color
fax products can and will work together means the future of the color fax
industry and market is bright.
“What we learned from our Color Fax PlugFest 2000 testing event
will enhance the color output representations that are possible in the future,
advance the color fax industry, and make color faxing easier for all
customers,” said Craig Douglass, chairman of the Color Fax Plug Fest 2000 and the MFPA’s managing director.
“Furthermore, these tests affirmed and substantiated the industry standards
designed to assure cross-platform compatibility.”
The successful completion of
Color Fax Plug Fest 2000, the
industry’s first international color fax interoperability project, marked the
first time that major competitors from the United States and Japan came
together with both unreleased and released products with the goal of testing
compatibility and interoperability between them.
This international event, co-sponsored
by the MFPA and Hewlett-Packard Company with additional support provided by
Xerox Corporation, created a unique opportunity where competitors within MFPA’s
Color Fax Participants Group (CFPG) felt comfortable to expose their own
products and to provide technical detail to others.
The companies also were able
to evaluate everyone’s products with the expressed goal of advancing the
entirety of the industry’s offerings with respect to color quality and
compatibility issues.
Held Oct. 2-4 in San Diego,
the event attracted senior key technical representatives and industry standards
representatives from major developers of Color Fax products including Hewlett
Packard, Xerox Corporation, Sharp Corporation, and Brother International as
well as technology suppliers including Agfa-Monotype and Brooktrout
Technology. Microsoft Corporation also
participated by providing technical information regarding developments in the
fax industry.
“Industry representatives
found a key venue to bond and to learn from others technically in this very
nascent market,” said Douglass. “Competitors were able to work together in a
cooperative environment to iron out technical differences.”
"This
event was extremely useful for both HP and the other vendors of color fax
machines, both from within the United States and from Japan, to advance the
compatibility and interoperability between machines within the industry,"
said Wahsun Chin, Telecomm Test Manager for Hewlett Packard Company's
All-in-One Product Division.
"Together, we demonstrated that
technical cooperation between the leaders in a developing market such as Color
Fax can bring more value to customers sooner, benefiting everyone
involved," said Lloyd McIntyre, principal engineer with Xerox Architecture
Center, one of the Xerox Research and Technology centers.
The MFPA is formulating
plans with its Color Fax Participants Group (CFPG) to continue the momentum and
conduct future interoperability events related to the Color Fax (T.4 and T.42)
standards. The MFPA welcomes inquiries
from other existing and potential color fax vendors to join the CFPG.
Depending upon industry
trends, this next MFPA interoperatability event may revolve around subsequent
color fax testing sessions as well as Internet fax interoperability issues.
For more information,
contact the MFPA office at 800-603-MFPA or 619-447-1127, via fax at
619-447-6872, or by mail at: MFAP, 1010 Old Chase Avenue, Suite B, El Cajon, CA
92020.
The MFPA was first organized in August 1993 when the first operating system and architectural technology offerings for the MFP marketplace began to appear. Since the organization’s inception, the MFP industry has rapidly evolved with the introduction of unique product offerings by system manufacturers such as Brother, Canon, Hewlett Packard, Minolta, Okidata, Ricoh, Xerox and others as well as system architecture offerings by Microsoft, Symantec (Delrina), ACCO, Axis Communcations, Conexant, Emulex, ITEC (PCPI), JetFax, Konica, Oak Technologies, Peerless Systems, Wind River Systems a number of other key participants. MFP vendors including Danka/Omnifax, Fujitsu, Mita, Minolta, Okidata, Ricoh, Samsung and Toshiba have actively supported the organization, as well have the silicon and peripheral suppliers such as Conexant (Rockwell) and AMP.
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