Do I need V.34 Fax?
When presented with a range of confusing standards and features, it is sometimes hard to get at the really important information: What does this do for me, and is it really important? Is there a clear cost-benefit in my situation?
In the case of V.34, there is a simple answer: V.34 makes faxing faster and more reliable, so it's likely that you will see real savings in an environment where a fax server is in use.
Let's take a look at some of the reasons behind these savings:
What is V.34?
V.34 fax is an ITU standard that describes how fax machines connect to each other. V.34 specifies connection rates of up to 33.6kbps compared with the previous standard, V.17, at 14.4kbps. Essentially, V.34 provides the following benefits:
- Faster connection speed (over twice)
- Faster handshaking - the process when fax machines connect to each other at the start of a call. This can produce a time saving of approximately 6 seconds per call regardless of the size of fax.
- Less re-sending - V.34 is less likely to lose a connection through a minor line error, due to better error correction.
V.34 has been around since 1998, and it has become a key feature for office fax machines. It is sometimes referred to as 'Super G3'. Panasonic*, for example, refers to it as a '3 second page' feature because of the dramatically lower transmission times.
The technical benefits are clear, but only realised if both ends support the same protocols. A V.34 device can send and receive faxes to a V.17 device, but at the speeds supported by the slower device. Therefore it's important to get a feel for how many V.34 fax machines are out there.
V.34 in the real world
The number of V.34-capable fax machines in use today is significant, and growing quickly. The amount shipped per year has grown from over a million in 2001 to an estimated four million in 2003, and it is predicted that in 2005 there will be a total of around 16 million installed V.34-capable machines.¹
The percentage of machines that you send to that are V.34 enabled will depend on where you are in the world, and what type of recipient you send faxes to. Large and medium sized businesses are more likely to have a V.34 device, as it has been a standard feature on high-end fax machines for much longer. For several years the fax machines available in popular retail outlets in the USA have almost all supported V.34. So within the USA and Canada, a conservative estimate of the percentage would be somewhere between 20% and 30%.
Compression
Before we go into V.34 deployments, it is worth noting the difference fax compression makes. There are several different standards for compression. They are, in order of effectiveness: MH, MR, MMR and JBIG. The impact that compression has varies depending on the document it is compressing, but it can be dramatic. JBIG is the most effective compression (up to 80% better), and an average document when compressed using JBIG becomes 1/20th of the original size! High-end fax machines will support all of these standards, and over time so will most fax machines.
The important thing to understand with compression is that this makes a huge difference to transmission times, but it varies dramatically depending on the type of content being faxed and the system configuration. A suitable solution should at the very least support MH, MR and MMR to see a cost saving. JBIG is an extremely powerful feature, and so it is a good idea to include that in a solution as well.
A word on color
It is now possible to send faxes using color. High-end fax machines support this, as do most MFP (multi-function printer) devices. They are also colour printers anyway, so supporting color fax is logical. A color fax is dramatically larger in data terms than simple black and white, and so it would be prohibitively expensive without V.34.
Color may have limited appeal for some organisations, but if you are faxing brochures, the impact of receiving it in color is tremendous! To make use of this, the board and software you are using must support color, and V.34 is a must-have to make it cost-effective.
Counting the cost
Let us start with an average fax that would usually take 3 minutes for us to send using a V.17 device that supported MH and MR compression. Of course, the cost of this call will vary depending on your provider and the ratio of local, national and international calls you make. In this case, lets assume that the average price is $0.05 per minute. That gives us:
$0.15 per fax, with a V.17 device
Let's then look at an equivalent fax sent using V.34 and more advanced compression such as MMR or JBIG. V.34 is 2.3 times faster, so we immediately reduce our 3 minute call to 1 minute 17 seconds. We also can take off 6 seconds per call for the reduced handshake time, so we are down to 1 minute 11 seconds. Then we use MMR or JBIG to reduce the size of what we send, and to be cautious we will assume that the extra benefit is just a 10% reduction in size rather than the potential 80% improvement we could see. This then reduces our call time down to 1 minute from the original 3 minutes, giving us:
$0.05 per fax, with a V.34 device
So straight away we're saving 0.10c every time we send a fax. If your organisation sends 10,000 faxes per year (easier than you might think!) then this starts to be a significant cost saving. The actual figure can vary quite dramatically depending on average fax size and type, and telephony charges.
Number of faxes per year |
Yearly saving if 20% of calls use V.34 |
Yearly saving if 100% of calls use V.34 |
|---|---|---|
10,000 |
$200 |
$1,000 |
50,000 |
$1,000 |
$5,000 |
100,000 |
$2,000 |
$10,000 |
1 Million |
$20,000 |
$100,000 |
It is also worth mentioning two other benefits. The shorter call times may also mean you don't require additional lines; the point where you need to upgrade your server will be further out, again reducing your total costs. There is also a clear benefit to people who send you faxes, as this reduces their bill, and gives them a better experience of dealing with your company. Neither of these benefits are as compelling as the sheer cost savings, but are a part of the attraction of this technology.
Of course, the overall impact to your organisation will depend on how many faxes you send, and how many are to a V.34 device. Figures from IDC indicate that around 40% of long distance charges are from faxing in the average corporation, so there are large savings to be made. You could save the entire cost of your system in less than a year, just by making sure it is V.34 enabled!
As well as the year one savings, the percentage of V.34 devices in use will be significantly increasing each year, so the rate you save will also increase. Over the life of a system, the savings could mount up into the tens of thousands of dollars!
If this is such a good idea, why don't all fax server solutions support V.34?
While V.34 has been available for some time, it is only in the last few years that it has become widely used. Consequently, there are only a handful of fax boards that have mature V.34 support. In some corners of the industry, the perception was that few users would be aware of the benefits of V.34. Consequently few board and software vendors have invested in adding this support and instead have played down the need to move from V.17.
Buying a V.34 solution
Now you have an idea how much you could save, how much will it actually cost you to buy a suitable solution? This solution will consist of hardware and software that supports V.34. Let's take a further look at these two components:
Getting the right software
Whether you are using V.17 or V.34, you are going to need mature and reliable fax software that provides the right user and administration features for your network. On this basis you would probably end up considering a software solution that includes V.34 support, as most serious packages already do.
For information on suitable fax software, please go to our software compatibility page.
Getting the right hardware
Just as with fax server software, you need to choose a product that has the right features to match your requirements. It is important to buy a board that is designed for use inside servers. Single-user products have major build quality and reliability issues that will become apparent very quickly in a server environment. Some vendors suggest that Class 1 or 1.0 fax interfaces are insufficient for server use. However, this is not the case: They are very comprehensive, widely deployed and stable standards from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Class 1 and 1.0 interfaces are, in fact, ideal for server applications when used with the right hardware implementation.
Reliability, form factor and supportability are all very important. For example, when evaluating a board it is important to check that it has a low heat output, good build quality, and that it will fit in your system.
When you have found products that meet these basic requirements, take a look and see how much our V.34 fax board actually costs. We hope you will be pleasantly surprised!
The Mainpine RockForceT multi-port boards for fax, data and voice applications are the only products available that meet all the following requirements:
- 2, 4 or 8 RJ11 ports
- Super G3 V.34 Fax and JBIG compression
- V.92 56kbps data connections, line bonding
- Short board form factor
- Low thermal output (7W maximum)
- Universal PCI (5v and 3.3v)
- PCI 3.0 compliant fitting in ANY PCI or PCI-X slot!
Prices start from $499 MSRP!
1: Source: Davidson Consulting