Soft Solutions Introduces 4-Sight Fax v5

First-ever Mac OS X fax server transmits faxes to mobile cross-platform users with e-mail ease.

ATLANTA, GA — May 6, 2002— Soft Solutions, Inc., a leading Macintosh software solutions company, announced today a customer beta release of 4-Sight Fax 5, the first fax server for the Mac OS X platform. Building on a decade of market presence, 4-Sight Fax 5 breaks free from the previous limitations of Macintosh fax server solutions by providing TCP/IP access to remote, cross-platform users, allowing employees the flexibility of sending and receiving critical faxes over any Internet connection. Plus, a unique feature that allows “fax forwarding” to e-mail gives users the ability to receive and pass along faxes as universally viewable PDF attachments.

"We're the first Mac OS X network fax product, and there's a great deal of day-to-day value in what 4-Sight Fax 5 is offering," said Tim Haratine, president of Soft Solutions. "Business people on the road are a long way from their fax machine. Now they will be as close as an Internet connection, as close as their e-mail."

One-stop faxing solution
Version 5 now supports users in cross-platform environments, providing client support for Mac OS 8.6 and later, and Microsoft Windows 95/98/Me, NT, 2000 and XP. The new client interface has been radically enhanced to include client-side imaging, an expanded address book, a powerful queue search capability, and expanded viewing features. The version 5 server software runs Mac OX 8.6 through Mac OS 9.2.2. Macintosh OS X support for the server is planned with version 5.1.

A software-only fax server, 4-Sight Fax 5 supports up to 16 fax lines from a single machine, whereas competing Macintosh-based solutions are limited to one fax line per machine. This scalability makes 4-Sight Fax ideal for fax broadcasters such as New Haven, Conn.-based QuickLink, a current customer that supports more than 500 fax lines with 4-Sight Fax servers.

Bridging the fax and e-mail gap
Unlike existing Internet-based fax solutions that require proprietary viewers, 4-Sight Fax 5's "fax forwarding to e-mail" feature takes companies one step closer to a unified messaging system by converting faxes into PDFs that can be downloaded, forwarded, and saved with any e-mail application. And when employees don't have access to their 4-Sight Fax client, the new e-mail-to-fax gateway lets them send an e-mail message from the road that will be forwarded as a fax to the recipient. The new e-mail-to-fax gateway is currently under development and is planned for release with version 5.1.

"We're bridging the gap between fax and e-mail," Haratine said. "With PDF or streaming TIFF attachments, the users can now easily forward faxes to anyone."

Meeting customer needs
The release of 4-Sight Fax 5 will follow a two-fold beta testing program. The first round of testing was completed with qualified distributors and resellers, and the second round began on May 6 with approximately 100 current customers, including development shops that integrate 4-Sight Fax into their industry-specific custom applications.

"Our hospitals have really become accustomed to reliable faxing without thinking twice," said Jody Bevan, president and founder of Jonoke Software Development, Inc., a beta program participant that develops software for the MediFile paperless office solution in Edmonton, Alberta Canada. "We're pleased that 4-Sight Fax is breaking new ground."

One enhancement designed to ease integration for 4-Sight Fax resellers and systems integrators is the elimination of dongle-based security: For the first time, registration codes can be delivered electronically for faster, more secure implementation.

"We've completely modernized this release," said Jamie Cox, senior programming specialist for Soft Solutions. "We rewrote the entire client in Java. We've removed reliance on an old network protocol, 4-Talk, and now we use XML and RPC for clients to communicate with the server. With the use of XML, 4-Sight Fax 5 data transfer will be faster and development will be more flexible."

Attractive pricing
4-Sight Fax 5 will be available from authorized dealers or directly from Soft Solutions with a starting price of $595 USD for one line supporting 5 users, a lower cost of entry when compared to similar Windows-based fax server software offerings. Enterprise pricing ranges from as low as $1,395 for one line with 25 users to $13,435 for 12 lines supporting unlimited users.

The fixed pricing model is also a cost-saver when compared to the ongoing monthly fees charged by fax service providers, which cost an average of $12 per month per user.

About Soft Solutions
Soft Solutions, Inc., (http://www.4sightfax.com/) is a market leading Macintosh software solutions company with customers in over 30 countries, providing information delivery products ranging from PowerTrax Pro to PDF Direct. Its signature product, 4-Sight Fax, has been on the market for more than a decade, with more than 25,000 fax lines installed worldwide and more than 300,000 users. The company was founded in 1988 and is currently headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

NOTE TO EDITORS:
Soft Solutions welcomes the opportunity to have you test this latest release. To request a review copy of 4-Sight Fax 5 or talk to current customers, please contact media representative Susan Hawkins at 770.457.9400, extension 24. For all other inquiries, you can reach the company at (888) 447-4448.