Subject: [Fax] Communication to ITU SG8

From: James Rafferty <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2000 23:28:35 +0100

To:   Herman Silbiger, Rapporteur, Question 4, ITU-T Study Group 8

From:   James Rafferty, Chair, IETF Internet Fax Working Group 

cc:   Wilhelm Staudinger, Scott Bradner, Keith Moore, Patrik Falstrom, Ned
Freed, Frank Cohen

Subject:   Communication on Current IETF Internet Fax Activities - For
Information

The IETF Internet Fax working group is nearing the completion of its
initial phase of activities
per the charter of the working group.  

The purpose of this memo is to provide a status update about current
activities and to 
outline potential future directions for the next phase of work.
Particular attention is given 
to the status of documents which are in process which will have some impact
on existing RFCs
whjch are referenced directly or indirectly within the T.37 recommendation.

Status of Current Activities

The working group is in the process of completing the activities specified
in the original charter.    In line with this, there is a collection of
documents which has gone through working group Last Call.   These documents
are drafts which are proposed for submission to the IESG in the near future
at the Draft Standard level.    The resulting RFCs would ultimately replace
the current RFCs 2301, 2302, 2303, 2304 and 2305.   The changes proposed
from the existing RFCs are not considered to be technical in nature.
There are some small refinements included in the documents which have
resulted based on feedback from implementors, primarily to clarify the
meaning of some portions of the text.    At this time, there are still some
additional interworking tests that need to be conducted for RFC 2303-2304
related to the support of GSTN addresses in email addresses.    In
addition, there are some references contained within RFC 2305 which are at
the proposed standard level.  In order to progress RFC 2305 to the draft
standard level, all of its normative references also need to be at the
draft level.   

The working group has submitted two additional documents to the Internet
Engineering Steering Group for Last Call.    
The working group proposes that the following draft document be approved as
a Proposed Standard RFC which is intended to replace RFC 2531:    

- draft-ietf-fax-feature-schema-v2-01.txt - Content Feature Schema for
Internet Fax (V2)

The working group also proposes that the following new document be approved
as an informational RFC:    

- draft-ietf-fax-T30-mapping-03.txt - Internet fax T.30 Feature Mapping

Document Revisions Related to T.37

There has been a new RFC 2738 approved which provides a correction to RFC
2533.    RFC 2533 is one of the embedded references within RFCs 2530, 2531
and 2532 which are referenced within T.37 amendment 1.    The new RFC
provides correction for a single small syntax error and fixes and editorial
point.     

As noted above, there is a proposal to replace RFC 2531 with an updated
version which provides some small technical changes.   This document has
not yet been appoved by the IESG.   

There is also pending action on the documents which define the Simple Mode
for Internet Fax (RFC 2301-2305).   These documents are in a working group
last call.   The intention is to submitted the completed documents and
documentation of the required interworking reports to the IESG for
consideration as Draft Standards.  Draft Standard is the next level of
standardization after Proposed Standard.    No technical changes are
anticipated in these documents.   The RFCs 2301, 2303, 2304 and 2305 are
referenced in T.37.       

Plans for Future Work

There has been some initial discussion inthe working group about new phases
of work.   In particular, there has been further review concerning the best
ways to more fully realize the "Full Mode" of Internet fax.    There are
some initial Internet Drafts on how to accomplish this.   Since this work
is beyond the scope of the original chartered effort, it has been proposed
that additional work be done under a re-chartered Internet Fax working
group or in a Fax extensions working group.    The working group reviewed
these ideas at its last meeting in November 1999 and a draft charter is
under development.   

It has been noted that there is an ongoing need to maintain communications
with the Questions in the ITU which are studying Internet fax and to
maintain synchronization between standards documents as new standard
facsimile features are introduced.    

The following draft charter is under review.    It has not yet been
finalized.  Comments are invited.   

Draft Charter for Future Work

Internet Fax Extensions (faxext)
--------------------------------

Chair(s):

Applications Area Director(s):
     Keith Moore  <[email-masked]>
     Patrik F„ltstr”m <[email-masked]>

Area Advisor

Mailing lists:
     General Discussion:[email-masked]
     To Subscribe:      [email-masked]
         In Body:       In Body:  subscribe
     Archive:           http://www.imc.org/ietf-fax/

Description of Working Group:

Previous IETF efforts developed specifications for simple and extended 
Internet mail-based facsimile service profiles, tailored to interwork 
with the world of T.30 facsimile.  This extension effort will produce a 
final increment of specification for supporting a "full" equivalence of 
T.30 service over Internet mail.  Technical work for this effort 
includes timely delivery, document privacy, and integrated specification 
of Full-mode Facsimile Profile of Internet Mail (FFPIM).  Differential 
routing between classic Internet mail and timely deliveries will be 
considered, as will universal messaging issues.

For interconnecting fax services over the dial-up telephone network and 
carriage of facsimile message data over the Internet, two types of 
interface systems are required:

o	Internet/Dial-up Fax gateway, moving data from the Internet to 
classic or Internet-aware dial-up fax products and services

o	Dial-up/Internet Fax gateway, moving data from classic or 
Internet-aware dial-up fax products and services to the Internet

The working group will also consider the requirements for gatewaying 
Internet Mail (Simple, Extended modes and FFPIM) with T.30 Facsimile.

The working group will specifically take note of quality of service 
issues and might decide to produce an Implementer's Guide, especially to 
deal with the question of routing for timely delivery. 

T.30 facsimile carries expectations of message privacy, so that FFPIM 
must specify a basic facility via the Internet.  Although T.30 does not 
provide document authentication, users frequently believe that it does.  
Consequently the Faxext working group will also seek specification of a 
basic authentication facility over the Internet.

Additional areas of discussion will be: Annotated fax messages and 
universal messaging issues as they relate to FFPIM, as well as schema 
and TIFF extensions required to support the new JBIG-2 (T.88) 
compression method.

The working group will continue the excellent pattern of coordinating 
activities with other facsimile-related standards bodies, and with using 
work from related IETF efforts.

Goals and Milestones:  

Mar 2000	Initial drafts for timely delivery and FFPIM

Jun 2000	Revised drafts

Mar 2000	Working Group chartered

Jul 2000	Routing considerations draft

Jul 2000	Initial draft of gateway requirements

Sep 2000    Initial drafts of schema and TIFF-fx extensions for JBIG-2

Nov 2000	Final draft for timely delivery.

Nov 2000	Final draft of Routing Considerations

Nov 2000	Final draft of FFPIM 

Mar 2001    Final draft of gateway requirements

Apr 2001	Final drafts of schema and TIFF-fx extensions for JBIG-2

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