The little graphic design shops all around us here in Soho will no doubt be rushing to order the latest innovation in facsimile technology, a full-spectrum high speed colour facsimile machine that comes not from Japan but from Campbell, California, where colour imaging products manufacturer StarSignal Inc is based. The Colorfax system is claimed to scan any colour document in full color, transmit the page in four to five minutes on standard telephone lines anywhere in the world, and reproduce it in 256,000 colour combinations – provided there’s another Colorfax at the receiving end – so those design houses will have to buy several, one for themselves, one each to lend to each of the clients for which they are currently working. The picture element density with colour is nearly six times that of a conventional monochrome facsimile, says Starsignal, adding that its colour compressor squeezes 15m character scanned colour images down 50- to 100-fold. The system includes colour scanner, colour printer, control unit and 1,200bps modem in a 23 square floor-standing unit. At $19,900 for the full transmit-receive system, the Colorfax goes into beta test next month.
STARSIGNAL CLAIMS FULL- COLOUR FACSIMILE MACHINE
