Content area
As it developed its voice-processing business, the company began to explore at an early stage the applications of its technology for fax processing. Brooktrout believes it was the first company to introduce several new significant fax-processing features, including multi-channel boards, speech playback integration, and a "direct-inward dial" capability for the internal routing of fax messages on local-area networks. It holds two U.S. patents for fax-on-demand document retrieval technology and fax-messaging systems.
In assessing Brooktrout, analyst Doug Ashton, with Hancock Institutional Equities Services, said: "There are very few pure-fax companies, but Brooktrout, in essence, is one of them. Its fax products are on the upswing while its straight voice-processing business is becoming less important.
A growing number of companies are using Brooktrout's TR Series to cut long distance and international phone carriers out of the loop when it comes to fax transmissions. Most companies use private wide-area networks to send and receive data and voice traffic, but faxes are still sent over ordinary telephone lines. Brooktrout's products compress and route fax transmissions over digital data lines, effectively lowering the costs of transmission rates compared with older methods.