Faxing reborn in email mode

By RICHARD WOOD

Local firm Netfax believes the humble fax can make a comeback as an email device.

It is touting an email routing service that can output emails to fax Machines and forward faxed documents to email addresses.

When an email is sent to a customer of the service a bar code identifying the sender is attached before it is delivered to the fax machine.

A response can be written on the fax, and when it is sent back to the service, the bar code is read and it is forwarded to the associated email as a graphic ".jpg" attachment.

After trials, the service is targeted at small-to-medium-business enterprises and people at home.

Taupo's Lakefront Spa Motor Lodge is using the service, and owner Peter Wall says it is more efficient for handling enquiries.

"I was mainly attracted to it because with email you've got to turn it on and sort through it all. With email I'd have to type in descriptions and muck around finding things to attach.

"I'm used to the fax machine spitting out inquiries. I have a pre-typed information form so I can fill in a price and pop it straight back. It takes just seconds."

Pakuranga-based NetFax is owned 75 per cent by director Gary Street and 25 per cent by computer science student Nicolas Lane.

Street said statistics showed 800,000 households in New Zealand did not have an email service but he was not sure how many of the 325,000 or so homes with a fax machine already had email. He said 100,000 businesses did not have email.

Street said NetFax's first goal was very conservative - only 1000 to 2000 customers.

He also plans to offer the service in Australia.

The service is available through three plans that all carry a $34 set-up fee.

The basic plan is then $5.50 a month plus 56c for each email. For $11.50 a month the customer can do 20 transactions free and pay 35c for each additional email, or for $33.50 get the first 100 free and 35c for each extra email.

Lane developed the service and through advertising in the Herald's Business for Sale column found Street to assist in sales and marketing. Street has 17 years in senior management and business development roles; his last position was marketing manager for Counties Power.

Lane handles the system side from the US, where he is doing a masters in computer science.

Netfax