Biscom, Inc. is a privately held

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

company founded in 1986. Headquartered in Westford, MA, its main focus is providing secure document delivery solutions to regulated industries. In March 2024, it was announced that the firm was acquired by Concord Technologies.

Overview

The company develops and markets

fax server A fax server is a system installed in a local area network (LAN) server that allows computer users whose computers are attached to the LAN to send and receive fax messages. Alternatively the term ''fax server'' is sometimes used to describe a pr ...

solutions that facilitate inbound and outbound electronic

fax Fax (short for facsimile), sometimes called telecopying or telefax (the latter short for telefacsimile), is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material (both text and images), normally to a telephone number connected to a printer o ...

communications, as well as

managed file transfer Managed file transfer (MFT) refers to a technology that provides the secure transfer of data in an efficient and reliable manner. MFT software is marketed to companies as a more secure alternative to using insecure protocols like FTP (file transfe ...

enterprise file synchronization and sharing Enterprise file synchronization and sharing (also known as EFSS and enterprise file sync and share) refers to software services that enable organizations to securely synchronize and share documents, photos, videos and files from multiple devices wi ...

, and

document conversion Data conversion is the conversion of computer data from one format to another. Throughout a computer environment, data is encoded in a variety of ways. For example, computer hardware is built on the basis of certain standards, which requires tha ...

solutions. It is known for its ability to scale to deliver millions of documents per day and for a history of reliability that is required for mission critical processes. Founder and current Chairman of Biscom, S.K. Ho was previously the Director of Engineering at

Wang Laboratories Wang Laboratories was a US computer company founded in 1951 by An Wang and G. Y. Chu. The company was successively headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts (1954–1963), Tewksbury, Massachusetts (1963–1976), and finally in Lowell, Massachusett ...

, where he designed and developed the Wang Word Processor and Wang Professional Image Systems; he holds nine major patents. Ho earned a BSME from Ordinance Engineering College in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

and an MSEE from

Drexel University Drexel University is a private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony J. Drexel, a financier and philanthropist. Founded as Drexel Institute of Art, S ...

Biscom Launches Fax Server Industry

Recognizing the opportunity to combine facsimile communications with computer applications, S.K. Ho left Wang Laboratories to found Biscom, Inc., and thus he launched the fax server industry. Early application of Biscom's fax server, the FAXCOM Server, applied print output from

mainframe A mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe or big iron, is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise ...

applications to an electronic form, and merged this into a single

TIFF Tag Image File Format, abbreviated TIFF or TIF, is an image file format for storing raster graphics images, popular among graphic artists, the publishing industry, and photographers. TIFF is widely supported by scanning, faxing, word processin ...

document which could be delivered electronically via fax. This was a vast improvement over earlier processes in which the mainframe data would be printed to paper forms, and then mailed or sent via paper fax machine.

Fax Server Industry Evolves

Fax servers have continually evolved since 1986, supporting desktop faxing via email, via Web browser, via mobile applications, and via Application Programming Interfaces (APIs); integrating with directory services such as Microsoft's

Active Directory Active Directory (AD) is a directory service developed by Microsoft for Windows domain networks. It is included in most Windows Server operating systems as a set of processes and services. Initially, Active Directory was used only for centralize ...

(and formerly Novell's eDirectory); integrating with Voice over IP (

VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet t ...

) to support

T.38 T.38 is an ITU recommendation for allowing transmission of fax over IP networks (FoIP) in real time. History The T.38 fax relay standard was devised in 1998 as a way to permit faxes to be transported across IP networks between existing Group ...

Fax over IP (FoIP); supporting paper-based faxing via multi function printers; enabling fax workflows with support for

Optical Character Recognition Optical character recognition or optical character reader (OCR) is the electronic or mechanical conversion of images of typed, handwritten or printed text into machine-encoded text, whether from a scanned document, a photo of a document, a scen ...

( OCR) and

barcode A barcode or bar code is a method of representing data in a visual, machine-readable form. Initially, barcodes represented data by varying the widths, spacings and sizes of parallel lines. These barcodes, now commonly referred to as linear or o ...

interpretation for rules based fax routing; and offering fax server capabilities in both premises and hosted solutions.

Biscom Expands Product Lines

Biscom has evolved into a provider of multiple product lines, including

Managed File Transfer Managed file transfer (MFT) refers to a technology that provides the secure transfer of data in an efficient and reliable manner. MFT software is marketed to companies as a more secure alternative to using insecure protocols like FTP (file transfe ...

that enable secure and auditable delivery of files of all types and sizes, and

that convert to and from popular formats such as PCL (

Printer Command Language Printer Command Language, more commonly referred to as PCL, is a page description language (PDL) developed by Hewlett-Packard as a printer protocol and has become a ''de facto'' industry standard. Originally developed for early inkjet printers ...

), PostScript, PDF (

Portable Document Format Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...

), and

Microsoft Office Microsoft Office, or simply Office, is the former name of a family of client software, server software, and services developed by Microsoft. It was first announced by Bill Gates on August 1, 1988, at COMDEX in Las Vegas. Initially a marketin ...

, and Enterprise File Synchronization & Sharing that enable full IT control of data and user manageability. Biscom currently offers secure document delivery solutions that support multiple modes of transmission, document types, and workflow automation.

Notes

Network World: File Transfer Solutions Take Pressure Off e-mail

Ferris Research: Assured Delivery for emails and Files

Linux Journal: Product of the Day: FAXCOM Server on Linux

Educause Quarterly: Managing Large Volumes of Assignments

Network Computing: Fax Servers – Fast, Efficient, and Very Much Alive

ENT - Through the Test Track - Fax Server Testing Data - Technology Information

Windows NT: The Fax Stops Here

Linux Fax Software

Technobabble - Fax Servers: Taming the Beast Once and For All

InformIt: Fax Servers - Serving Faxes More than Ever

Owen, Jeff, Telecom Reseller Reporter, Biscom: FoIP, September 10, 2012 Fax/FoIP
* Novell: FAXCOM - All for One and One for All

References

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External links

Official website
Companies established in 1986 Software companies based in Massachusetts Fax Managed file transfer 2024 mergers and acquisitions