While the fax as a document-transmission technology is dying a prolonged, excruciating death, some forward-thinking business users have signed up for “Internet fax” services. Companies such as j2 Global, through its eFax service line, will take faxes, convert them to TIFF or PDF, and send them to the customer’s e-mail box as file attachments.

Some companies provide bare-bones conversions and delivery for free, others offer more robust services for a monthly fee. Realizing that regulatory issues--and the general need to for all companies to keep some business documents confidential--j2 announced last week eFax Secure to its corporate clients, which offers its fax-to-PDF service hosted in a secure Webmail box. eFax Secure restricts access to faxes in manner compliant with several U.S. regulatory laws, including HIPAA and GLB, making it appealing for financial, healthcare, and legal entities.

"eFax Corporate is already an essential messaging solution used by our customers to conduct business efficiently and quickly," says Hemi Zucker, chief marketing officer of j2 Global. "With the addition of eFaxSecure, our customers now have an even greater assurance that the contents of their faxes will remain protected, secure and confidential."