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GAZETTE
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JULY/AUGUST 1992
EDI - Is There Life
After Fax?
by Michael O ' Sullivan
The facsimile or fax machine has
transformed communications
between businesses and clients to an
extent unseen since the telephone
gained widespread use over 70 years
ago. The Law Society recognised the
benefits of fax transmission at an
early stage, and your Technology
Committee has gone to great lengths
to promote its use in the profession.
The benefits of fax transmission are
well known but worth repeating.
Documents (including diagrams) can
be reproduced worldwide simply by
dialling a telephone and pressing a
transmit button. Drafts can be sent,
reviewed, amended and returned in a
matter of minutes or hours,
documentary evidence can be
adduced and decisions can be taken
far more quickly than post or
courier services might permit, and
often for much less cost. As
technology advances, features such
as speed dialling, memory storage of
documents, password protection and
multiple transmissions have improved
the facilities provided by faxes. But
as every harried solicitor and
secretary knows, faxes have distinct
shortcomings. Poor transmissions
result in smudged copies. Sheet
feeders jam and develop minds of
their own. Telephone numbers can be
misdialled with results that are at
best embarrassing. The speed of fax
transmissions has not improved
apace with other technologies, due in
part to the need to serve the lowest
common denominator.
The nearly universal use of word
processing has opened up the
possibility of eliminating some if not
all of these problems. This article
considers Electronic Document
Interchange (EDI), how it compares
with fax transmission, and how it
might be used in the profession.
Computers store information such as
Michael
O'Sullivan
documents and diagrams in files,
EDI works on the basis that a
computer file such as a word
processing document can be
reproduced at one or more 'remote'
locations by connecting a
transmitting computer - the 'local'
computer - down a link such as a
cable or telephone line to a remote
computer. Once they have established
clear communications, the two
computers start a 'conversation' in
which the local computer describes
the file and its contents, and the
remote reproduces it at the other end
of the line. The result is that a
replica of the document file is
created on the remote system. That
replica file can then be printed off
or amended on the remote system
like any other document.
The precise means by which this is
achieved involves several stages.
Firstly, both computers must be
capable of communicating. This
involves having a device called a
port
(which is standard on most systems
today) and
communications software
on each computer which instructs
them on how to create the link and
conduct the conversation. Secondly,
the two computers must be linked
through a cable or telephone line. It
will usually be impractical to have a
cable from a transmitting computer
in Cork directly to a receiving
computer in Galway, so for present
purposes we will focus on the
telephone link. The telephone system
will only deal with signals of certain
types. An ordinary telephone
converts voice sounds into electronic
signals, sends them down the line,
and converts signals back into voice
sounds. In much the same way, a
device called a
modem
converts
computer-type signals from the port
into telephone-type signals and vice
versa. The modem will usually deal
with dialling and answering other
computers in the same way that
faxes do with other faxes.
So far, the process is similar to fax
transmission. But there are several
important differences. Firstly, there
is the question of speed. Modern
faxes, given a clear line, can transmit
single-space typed text at a rate of
between 45 and 70 seconds for every
A4 page. A direct EDI link on the
same line could send the same page
in 3 to 8 seconds. Interference on
the line may cause the faxed copy to
be smudged or incomplete, but the
communications software and
modem used by the EDI link will
almost always make sure that each
packet of data is compared by the
two computers for errors, and re-
send any that are not 'agreed'.
Lastly, as many an impatient
solicitor and overstretched secretary
knows from experience, the faxed
page may have to be read,
deciphered, typed and marked up
before it can be returned by fax to
the sender and the process begun
again. Using EDI, the document is
loaded directly onto the receiving
computer without having to be re-
typed, and can be amended and
printed off like any other document.
The re-draft can then be returned by
EDI in the same way it was received.
One question which will occur to
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