Now Skype really means business

Davey Winder
Monday, 23 March 2009 21:55

IT Industry - Market

Ever wanted to bring Skype into the corporate realm but have been hamstrung by the lack of SIP-based PBX compatibility? Good news as Skype finally gets down to business.

Skype is, by pretty much any measure, a fully fledged success. Any measure other than the corporate usage yardstick that is. Business users have been waiting for Skype to take them seriously for some time now - and now that time has come.

Skype has, at long last, announced the availability of a Beta version of Skype for SIP for Business. This supports the Session Initiation Protocol open standard widely employed within business telephony networks around the world.

How widely employed? Well IDC reckons that, globally speaking, there were no less than 438,000 IP PBXs shipped last year alone.
 
Skype For SIP will enable those SIP PBX business owners to participate in the no cost/low cost telephony revolution with calls to fixed phones and mobiles pretty much anywhere on the planet as well as receiving Skype calls directly into the PBX.

This opens up the Skype community, some 405 million strong, to the business user and vice-versa. Using the web-based click-to-call functionality those businesses will be able to get customer calls through existing office systems at no cost to the caller.

Businesses will also be able to manage Skype calls using existing hardware and system applications such as call routing, conferencing, phone menus and voicemail.

"The introduction of Skype for SIP is a significant move for Skype and for any communication intensive business around the world" Stefan Oberg, VP and General Manager of Skype for Business says.

"It effectively combines the obvious cost savings and reach of Skype with its large user base, with the call handling functionality, statistics and integration capabilities of traditional office PBX systems, providing great economical savings and increased productivity for the modern business" Oberg added.
 
In order to get on the Beta program, applicants must be a business, have an installed SIP based IP-PBX system and the ability to configure their own SIP-enabled PBX. Calls during the Beta period will be charged at standard Skype rates, final pricing details will be announced when the product goes live later in the year.