Soft Solutions Inc. on Thursday announced the release of 4-Sight Fax version 6, the latest major release of their fax server software for Mac OS X. This new release features significant performance improvements and better scalability than its predecessor, according to the developer.
4-Sight Fax 6 eschews the Java-based client software of earlier releases for a revamped client that’s been made using REAL Software’s REALbasic development environment. This results in five times faster launching and ten times to 100 times faster fax broadcast queuing (for 1,000-plus broadcasts), according to Soft Solutions. Documents can now be attached to faxes and viewed from faxes in half the time, said the developer.
Other improvements in this release include improved rendering, faster fax printing and a simplified and customizable user interface. QuickFax is now integrated into the version 6 client, allowing users to drag and drop multiple document attachments into 4-Sight Fax Composer. There’s also a new 4-Notify application that lets you know of new fax arrivals even if the client software isn’t running. 4-Sight Fax also has an automated update feature that will download and install software updates as they’re released.
4-Sight Fax allows users to integrate contact information from their Apple Address Book software, a local 4-Sight Fax address book, or the server’s centralized address book. A new messaging system tracks and reports fax statistics like status, date and time sent, and senders and their fax numbers. Caller ID and Block List fax filtering is new in this release, along with outgoing fax-line control and a type-ahead fax locator.
4-Sight Fax Version 6 works on Mac OS X, Mac OS 9 and Windows, and will support Mac OS X v10.4 “Tiger” within 30 days of its public release, according to Soft Solutions, which also cautioned that the previous release, 4-Sight Fax v5.1, will not work with Tiger. It’s shipping in English and French now. A localized German release is expected in April, and Soft Solutions is currently developing a Japanese version. Soft Solutions expects to add support for Apple internal modems and Apple Xserves by summer of 2005.
4-Sight Fax 6 Server is priced depending on the number of fax lines, users and platforms supports; prices start at $495 for one fax line servicing five Mac users. Customers who purchased new licenses since January 25, 2005 and those on Annual Updates and Support Plans can upgrade Version 6 for free. Upgrading pricing is available from the Web site.