T.37

The ITU -T Recommendation T.37 entitled english Procedures for the transfer of facsimile data via store- and-forward on the Internet specifies a network protocol for transmission of fax messages in a store-and- forward mode. The fax will be sent via email in a TIFF file.

The recommendation was developed in 1998 and includes the time standard achieved, so not all features of fax machines of groups 3 and 4, the use of the Internet instead of the PSTN or ISDN, are taken into account. It is together with the recommendation T.38 a base recommendation for sending faxes over the Internet. Currently, ITU- T working on improvements, and the work program, among others, includes the following:

• New modulation method
• New coding methods such as JPEG 2000
• Color faxes

A major point of the works are also quality aspects. The work should be completed by 2008 and adopted at the international level.

Using the different TIFF formats into practice

For black / white documents may TIFF -S or TIFF -F, used in color documents TIFF -J, TIFF, C, L or TIFF TIFF -M. The majority of fax machines with T.37 possessed a black / white scanner. Because even today, the majority of T.37 -compatible fax machines is equipped with a black / white printing, is for compatibility reasons TIFF -S or TIFF -F is preferably used. These formats can be printed from almost all T.37 fax machines.

Color TIFF plays a minor role, as the implementation and support are costly. Furthermore, color Tiff on the market could not prevail, since only a few manufacturers offer color TIFF in combination with T.37 or have offered.