Fax July 1996. A major breakthrough in the development of the modern facsimile system was the result of digital technology, where the analog signal from scanners was digitized and then compressed, resulting in the ability to transmit high rates of data across standard phone lines. The first digital fax machine was the Dacom Rapidfax first sold in late 1960s, which incorporated digital data compression technology developed by Lockheed for transmission of images from satellites. Group 3 and 4 faxes are digital formats, and take advantage of digital compression methods to greatly reduce transmission times. Fax Over IP (FoIP) can transmit and
Fax modem Fax modem A fax modem enables a computer to transmit and receive documents as faxes on a telephone line. A fax modem is like a data modem but is designed to transmit and receive documents to and from a fax machine or another fax modem. Some, but not all, fax modems do double duty as data modems. As with other modems, fax modems can be internal or external. Internal fax modems are often called fax boards. In the early 1990s small business PCs commonly had a PC-based fax/modem card and fax software (typically WinFax Pro). Largely replaced by email, PC-based