Head to Head: Mainpine QUATRO+ versus Brooktrout* TR114* uP4L
Why do a test?
We build solid, ground-breaking products, that give our customers dramatically better value for money than the competition.
We want to prove this and make it more widely known!
Given the dramatically lower price of the QUATRO+, many customers find it hard to believe that they are purchasing a superior product. To address this, we will compare the features of these two products, and show how they perform in test scenarios.
Feature Comparison
RockForce QUATRO+ |
Brooktrout TR114 uP4L |
|
|---|---|---|
 |
 |
|
Form Factor |
PCI 3.0 Compliant, Short Board. | PCI 2.2 Compatible, Full Length Board. |
Ports |
4 x RJ11 standard telephone sockets. | 1 x Custom socket: breakout cable provides 4 x standard telephone sockets |
Software Installation |
Installation .INF file required: configures standard windows serial drivers. No custom software required. | Requires proprietary Brooktrout API/driver to be installed. |
Software Compatibility |
Any software supporting standard Class 1 or 1.0 fax interfaces. | Any software supporting proprietary Brooktrout API. |
Fax Protocol Support |
V.34 (33.6kbps) V.17 (14.4kbps) V.29 (9.6kbps) ECM error correction |
V.17 (14.4kbps) V.29 (9.6kbps) ECM error correction |
Fax Compression Support |
JBIG, MMR, MR, MH, none | MMR, MR, MH, none, JBIG in 'pass thru' mode |
Price (MSRP) |
$999 USD | $3,295 USD |
What does it all mean?
The list of features for both products clearly shows that the QUATRO+ meets or exceeds the TR114 in each category that is important to faxing. In fact, there are several clear advantages to the QUATRO+, and a significant price difference.
Form Factor
The QUATRO+ is significantly more compact than the TR114
The QUATRO+, along with all current Mainpine products, conforms to the latest PCI 3.0 specification and has been designed to meet the standard 'short board' form factor. Together this guarantees that the QUATRO+ will fit into and work with ANY conventional PCI compliant PC or Server, from the very smallest to the largest.
The QUATRO+ shown in a Shuttle* XPC with the case open
The small size of the QUATRO+ vastly increases the number and types of system it can be used in. For example, the QUATRO+ will fit into mini-ITX or Shuttle XPC systems. These range from passively-cooled ultra-quiet systems, to ultra-powerful 64-bit Hyperthreading systems that take up the minimum amount of space.
It is possible to build even higher power/density systems using the RockForce OCTO+, which has 8 fax ports onboard, yet still conforms to the short board form factor.
The TR114 will not even fit in a Shuttle XPC system!
Standard installation and interfaces
While the TR114 requires a significant amount of proprietary software to function, the QUATRO+ requires only a standard install script that tells the system how to connect up the operating system's built-in drivers. This means that non-standard software is completely eliminated from the system - a great boost for reliability. This also makes installation very simple in practice as well as on paper!
Fax Protocols
The most obvious gap in the specifications for the TR114 is the lack of V34 (33.6kbps) fax capability. As we will see later, this has a significant impact on the overall call times, meaning smaller telephony bills for the QUATRO+.
What about build quality and reliability?
At Mainpine we use high quality components and rigorous quality control that includes soak testing on all products before they leave our warehouse. We stand by the quality of our products - they are designed for mission-critical server applications. However, don't just take our word for it!
Much of the electronics industry uses the Telcordia* reliability prediction procedure to produce an MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) figure to estimate the reliability of a product. There are two main factors that affect this figure. The first is the quality of the components and the second is the number of components used to manufacture the product. You can see from the comparative pictures that the QUATRO+ is a much simpler design - not less powerful, just more efficient, and hence more reliable!
The MTBF figure for the QUATRO+ is an amazing 435,000 hours, which is equivalent to continuous operation for 49 years! We do not have comparative figures for the TR114, as we have been unable to find any published figures.
The Test Setup...
PC System
The tests were carried out using a standard PC with the following specification:
- Intel Pentium* 3 @ 1GHz
- 256Mb RAM
- 40Gb IDE Hard Drive
- Windows 2000 SP4
The relatively low specification of this machine was deliberately chosen for these tests, to highlight any unreasonable burdens placed on the system by either product during intensive use.
Fax Software
The software chosen for these tests was NET SatisFAXtion 7.0 from Faxback. This is a powerful network fax suite that supports both the QUATRO+ and the TR114. Other than driver configuration, all the settings remained the same for both tests. In all tests the standard install defaults were used for all hardware-independant settings. Hardware-dependant settings were based on recommendations from the respective user documentation for NET SatisFAXtion and the relevant hardware.
Test Faxes
In general within Mainpine, a range of documents based on ITU-T recommendations are used for performance and reliability testing. These documents vary in length and types of content. The fax that was used for performance comparison in this series of tests is a 13 page document that includes a mixture of text and graphics, and provides a good stress-test for a fax system.
The Results
Call Duration 13 page fax (Avg.) |
CPU Utilization (peak) |
Reliability over 2000 faxes |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| QUATRO+ |
1 min 50 secs |
30% |
100% |
| TR114 |
3 min 21 secs |
30% |
100% |
Analysis
Both the QUATRO+ and the TR114 demonstrated very high reliability - 100% of the faxes were correctly sent and received. Neither board placed great demands on the CPU, despite the low system specification. This means that even on modest systems, there is plenty of resource available even while all the fax lines are in operation.
The major difference in the test was in the call durations: The QUATRO+ sent the same 13 page fax in 55% of the time taken by the TR114. A large factor in the savings made was the V.34 fax capability of the QUATRO+. In the 'real world', evidence shows that around 60% of business fax calls run at V.34 rates, therefore estimated telephony savings with the QUATRO+ will be around 25-30%.
Over the course of a year for a busy fax system of this size, this would translate into savings of many thousands of dollars - these savings alone could pay for the system every few months!
Conclusion
Overall, both boards provide very similar features, with the QUATRO+ coming out ahead in terms of speed, form factor and compatibility. The difference in pricing of nearly $2,300 USD between the two products means that a high specification system including a QUATRO+ and all the required hardware and software could be purchased for significantly less than the MSRP of the TR114!
The clear winner is the Mainpine RockForce QUATRO+!
Further Information
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us or one of our partners. We offer a 30 day money-back guarantee and 3 year warranty, so you can always give our products a go!
Information in this article is correct at time of writing - October 2004. Prices and specifications may vary without notice.