Network Fax (netfax)

Charter

Chair(s):
     Mark Needleman, mhn@stubbs.ucop.edu

Mailing Lists:
     General Discussion:  netfax@stubbs.ucop.edu
     To Subscribe:  netfax-request@stubbs.ucop.edu
     Archive:  /pub/netfax@stubbs.ucop.edu

Description of Working Group:

     The Network Fax Working Group is chartered to explore issues
     involved with the transmission and receipt of facsimilies
     across TCP/IP networks and to develop recommended standards for
     facsimile transmission across the Internet.  The group is also
     intended to serve as a coordinating forum for people doing
     experimentation in this area to attempt to maximize the
     possibility for interoperability among network fax projects.

     Among the issues that need to be resolved are what actual
     protocol(s) will be used to do the actual data transmission
     between hosts, architectural models for the integration of fax
     machines into the existing internet, what types of data
     encoding should be supported, how IP host address to phone
     number conversion should be done and associated issues of
     routing, and development of a gateway system that will allow
     existing Group 3 and Group 4 fax machines to operate in a
     network environment.

     It is expected that the output of the Working Group will be one
     or more RFC's documenting recommended solutions to the above
     questions and possibly also describing some actual
     implementations.  The life of the Working Group is expected to
     be 18-24 months.

     It is also hoped that some fax vendors, as well as the
     networking community and fax gateway developers, will be
     brought into the effort.


Goals and Milestones:

Done       Review and approve Charter making any changes deemed
           necessary.  Refine definition of scope of work to be
           accomplished and initial set of RFC's to be developed.  Begin
           working on framework for solution.

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Done       Continue work on definition of issues and protocols.  Work to
           be conducted on mailing list.

Aug 1991   First draft of RFC to be completed.  To be discussed at IETF
           meeting and revised as necessary.

Dec 1991   Continue revisions based on comments received and submit to
           IESG for publication as RFC.

Mar 1992   Overlapping with activities listed above may be
           implementations based on ideas and work done by the Working
           Group.  If so revise RFC to include knowledge gained from
           such implementations.



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