MCI launches premier international fax service; MCI OneFAX allows businesses to "fire and forget" international faxes

Business Wire, August 31, 1995

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 31, 1995--MCI today introduced an international fax service for U.S. businesses that eliminates the hassle and frustration traditionally associated with international faxing.

The new service, called MCI OneFAX, utilizes an advanced store-and-forward delivery system that allows MCI to oversee the delivery of international faxes, offering business people a substantially improved standard of reliability in transmitting international faxes.

According to an independent study conducted last year by the FaxLab Group (10/94), nearly 50 percent of international faxes do not go through on the first attempt. The study attributed the problem to differences in international network transmission protocols and speeds, wide inconsistencies in foreign network quality and various other factors. MCI's solution to the problem is the introduction of MCI OneFAX.

"Up to now, many businesses had a justified `fear of faxing' overseas," said Brian Brewer, vice president of marketing for MCI Business Markets. "With MCI OneFAX, we've moved international faxing off the slow boat and into the jet set, with a vastly improved rate of successful transmission."

MCI OneFAX Babysits the Fax, So the Sender Doesn't Have To

With MCI OneFAX, customers simply dial a toll-free number to reach the MCI OneFAX platform, which forwards the fax to its destination in any of some 230 countries. MCI's intelligent OneFAX system is capable of distinguishing voice (in the case of wrong numbers) and fax tones that can indicate if a receiving fax machine is out of paper or experiencing other common problems.

If the line is busy or the connection is broken, MCI will resend the fax. If a fax cannot be delivered after eight re-tries, a non-delivery notice is provided noting the specific reason for non-delivery. Once the fax has been successfully sent, a delivery confirmation is provided to the customer via fax within two minutes of completion.

In effect, MCI OneFAX oversees the transmission of international faxes, which frees the sender to do other things.

"We fax to customers in more than 110 countries, from Yemen to Cameroon," says Michael Scroggins, assistant controller for ABRO Industries, an Indiana-based multi-million-dollar supplier of automotive and industrial products to developing markets. "Before we began beta-testing MCI OneFAX, we experienced only a 50 percent success rate in faxing overseas -- now nearly 100 percent go through on our first transmission."

Savings, Convenience, Customer Support

MCI OneFAX not only saves time, it also saves money. Customers are only charged for completed faxes, unlike "guarantees" offered by other long distance companies that amount to credits upon request for incomplete calls.

As an additional benefit, MCI OneFAX customers can also fax directly from their PC using networkMCI BUSINESS software or other PC-based fax software packages and modems that support the entry of additional dialing strings and G3 fax protocols.

To provide additional assistance, MCI OneFAX is backed by the MCI International Fax Service Center 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Equipped with the latest in automated fax test and transmission equipment, and specially trained personnel, the MCI International Fax Service Center provides on-the-spot assistance.

Expanded Access to Global Trading Partners

Because MCI OneFAX offers toll-free access, companies that normally restrict international calling can provide employees wider flexibility in expanding business opportunities with international trading partners while minimizing financial exposure.

Many companies restrict international calls at the PBX in order to minimize financial exposure from abuse. Since callers access the MCI OneFAX platform toll-free, companies can give wider access to their employees to communicate with international trading partners without easing restrictions on international voice calls. Access can be given to particular switched access lines or fax machines, or select individuals can be given access via personal authorization codes.

MCI OneFAX is an option under all of MCI's premier calling plans for business, including MCI Preferred, Vision and Vnet services. MCI OneFAX calls are detailed on each invoice -- providing another useful management tool -- and combine to support volume discounts. MCI customer service can be reached at 1-800/937-6000.

MCI markets and distributes MCI fax, a family of fax services for companies of all sizes. Customers can use MCI fax to transmit documents, forms and images to recipients worldwide. MCI fax Broadcast is a bulk capacity fax service that can accept one message and distribute it to up to 10,000 worldwide fax recipients virtually simultaneously. MCI Mail's Fax Dispatch allows users to send both text and graphics for fax delivery directly from their PCs or workstations. SAFEfax is a high speed, high volume service that gives subscribers maximum control over the processing and presentation of messages. MCI Fax Reply allows organizations to create a document bulletin board service to make business information available on demand.