Tefax: four office machines in one?; A good midrange fax, but if you need a copier, buy a copier. (Hardware Review) (Relisys' Tefax RA2110M) (evaluation)

Tefax: Four office machines in one?

Good midrange fax, but if you need a copier, buy a copier

Relisys

List price: $1,595

+Bundled with BackFAX software from Solutions International; fully supports Group 3 protocols; works with either Mac or IBM PC.

-Cannot operate as a data modem and does not include a serial port for daisychaining a modem; ties up telephone line while scanning or printing; interferes with other serial port functions.

By Mary Jane Westland

Ah, the ultimate office machine: an all-in-one copier, printer, scanner, fax machine, data modem and telephone answering machine. In many offices there are six separate devices to fill these functions. Is it possible that there's a single machine that can do even four of these jobs and recover an entire table's worth of real estate? Maybe someday. But for now the Relisys Tefax is as close as you will get.

The Tefax, Model RA2110M, is a fully functional, stand-alone Group 3 fax machine. It includes scan and print mechanisms. It's also a fax modem, bundled with customized BackFAX for Tefax software from Solutions International of Williston, Vt.

Tefax shipped last spring with software ported from the DOS world.…