Skype Adds SIP Support for Businesses

Deepening its reach into business telecom systems, Skype said today it is releasing the beta version of a new software linking existing SIP-based PBXs to the Skype IP calling network.

Called “Skype for SIP,” the new application will allow companies to receive inbound calls from Skype users through their existing PBXs, at no charge to the callers; make outbound calls anywhere in the world, from any device connected to the SIP PBXs, at low global calling rates from Skype; and purchase Skype online numbers to receive free calls traditional fixed or mobile phones.

The beta is limited to a certain number of participants with SIP PBXs, who can apply via the Skype for SIP Web site. The final product will be released later this year, according to Ian Robin, head of sales and marketing for Skype’s business unit.

“We’re making sure that network administrators can introduce Skype to their companies, but still use their existing phone system,” said Robin. “So this will see you through the life-cycle of your current system, and when you renew it you won’t actually need a phone system.”

That of course is discordant music to the ears of carriers and traditional telecom gear vendors, but Skype, which began life in 2003 as a pure-play consumer VoIP provider, has made no secret of its ambitious plans for enterprise business. The business unit, officially formed in the summer of 2008, last fall launched a Skype product for Asterisk, the open-source business PBX from Digium.

While Skype’s 405 million customer base has traditionally been around 35 percent business users, Robin said, the explicit marketing of enterprise systems is new for the Luxembourg-based provider.

“We’ve never strategically pursued business users,” Robin added. “That’s a major change for Skype for this year.”

As part of that strategy the company plans to more broadly engage with resellers, integrators and channel partners in the coming months. Skype CEO Josh Silverman will speak on this topic when he delivers a joint keynote at the VON Conference and Expo and at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo, Sept. 23 in Miami Beach.

To gain access to Skype For SIP, an enterprise IT manager simply lets Skype know the IP address for their SIP PBX along with the verified phone number associated with it. Then a Skype user name is associated with the company, its IP address and the phone number. The IT manager can then set up rules within their PBX for routing and managing calls.