Fax Site using the Courier satellite. Radio fax is still in limited use today for transmitting weather charts and information to ships at sea. Also, it is also widely used within the medical field to transmit confidential patient information. In 1964, Xerox Corporation introduced (and patented) what many consider to be the first commercialized version of the modern fax machine, under the name (LDX) or Long Distance Xerography. This model was superseded two years later with a unit that would truly set the standard for fax machines for years to come. Up until this point facsimile machines were very expensive and
Internet fax However after the development of open source IP PBX systems, it become common to set up a fully software-based email to fax or Web to fax gateways. like Asterisk (PBX) and ICTFax. Making phone calls over the Internet (Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP) has become increasingly popular. Compressing fax signals is different from compressing voice signals, so a new standard (T.38) has been created for this. Using a (sending) VoIP adapter and (receiving) gateway which are both T.38 compliant, most fax machines can be plugged into the VoIP adapter in the same way as to a regular phone line.