Since the initial announcement of Skype for SIP a year ago today, with the goal of integrating some elements of Skype’s infrastructure into legacy PBX systems that support SIP, Skype has been expanding its partner base as well as incorporating its deployment into the Skype for Business program.

To repeat: the purpose and goals of Skype for SIP are:

• to allow small-to-medium businesses to reduce their international calling cost to over 180 countries through use of Skype Out business subscriptions (without the need to negotiate and manage country-specific contracts with the telcos in each country)
• to provide a free, optionally international, click-to-call inbound calling capability through Skype Online numbers
• to allow integration of these elements of Skype into legacy PBX systems that support SIP

Recalling that Skype for SIP is still at a public open beta stage, Skype participated in four announcements yesterday that expand this ecosystem and the open beta activity with a “third party” Skype for SIP certification partner and three new PBX Gateway partners:

• Skype Selects tekVizion Labs to Manage Skype for SIP Interoperability Certification Program

tekVizion Labs has been introduced to the Skype partner community as the interoperability experts to help expedite Skype for SIP interoperability testing and certification. In addition to Skype for SIP interoperability testing, tekVizion Labs can provide consulting, integration and support services to Skype’s customers and partners and the systems integrators and value added resellers they work with.

• Grandstream Achieves Skype for SIP Interoperability Certification

Interoperability with Skype for SIP gives SMBs the ability to receive inbound calls through their Grandstream GXE IP PBX or related gateways from more than 521 million registered Skype users around the world at no additional cost to the Skype user when calling through Skype. Businesses can leverage the investment in their corporate website even further by enabling Skype users to simply click on a global click-to-call button on the website to place immediate calls to sales or support via Skype. Skype calls received through the Grandstream IP PBX are handled by the PBX in the same way as other inbound calls. For outbound calling, Grandstream customers can realize significant cost savings to landlines and mobile phones around the world using Skype’s low-cost calling rates.

• Skype for SIP now Interoperable with AudioCodes Mediant 1000 Multi-Service Business Gateways

By certifying the AudioCodes Multi-Service Business Gateways with Skype for SIP, customers can benefit from interoperability with hundreds of TDM PBXs, Key Systems, and IP-PBXs that have not been able to connect to Skype so far. In addition, if a company buys and associates an online Skype number with their AudioCodes Mediant 1000 Multi-Service Business Gateway solution, it can then receive inbound calls via Skype from business contacts and customers calling from landline and mobile phones.

• VoSKY’s New PBX Gateway Is [Amongst] Industry’s First to Achieve Skype for SIP Certification

The VoSKY SSG is available in two versions, supporting either 4 or 8 channels. It offers seamless integration with Skype for SIP Open Beta with any analog PBX or key system, connecting via a conventional (FXS) analog port. It allows businesses to take advantage of Skype’s cost savings and enhanced business features without restructuring their existing communications network and infrastructure.

As a result the Skype for SIP ecosystem grows beyond the initial partnerships announced with Shoretel, SIP Foundry and Cisco. Skype for SIP Certification ensures that Skype’s partners meet established standards not only for the technology behind the implicit interoperability required but also the user experience. And these partnerships allow Skype to leverage each vendor’s existing customer base to build awareness and revenues while disintermediating and disrupting legacy long distance business models.

Bottom line: With all the various Skype for Business activities coming this year, including the launch later this spring of the FREETALK Connect PBX incorporating both Skype for SIP and Skype for Asterisk (which also supports free Skype-to-Skype calling), small-to-medium businesses will have several options to both lower their communications cost, have customer calls directed to appropriate employees and/or end points, and expand their markets through low cost communications to new international markets.

Link to a list of all Voice On The Web posts discussing Skype for SIP.

Full disclosure: In Store Solutions, producer of the FreeTalk Connect PBX, has become a client of Denali InterConneXions, publisher of Voice On The Web, building on the author’s previous business development experience with establishing partnerships that can assist with the promotion of a primary vendor’s offerings. A more complete statement will follow shortly.

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• Grandstream Achieves Skype for SIP Interoperability Certification (eon.businesswire.com)
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• Barriers to using Skype for business fall away (infoworld.com)
• FREETALK Connect, the worlds first Skype-enabled Unified Communications system. (saunderslog.com)
• Skype for SIP could save businesses big bucks (thenextweb.com)
• Skype Security: Is It Safe for Business? (computerworld.com)

At CES 2010 last month I had the opportunity to record interviews with Skype CEO Josh Silverman as well as Russ Shaw, Vice President and General Manager of Skype Mobile and EMEA, and Matt Jordan, Enterprise Business Development Manager.

In this first interview Matt Jordan talks about the evolving Skype for Business Program. After giving an overview of the program, Matt talks about the revamped Business Control Panel (“BCP”) and how it allows an administrator to manage Skype usage across an enterprise.

While some of the BCP discussion gets a bit technical he does cover issues of security and management of individual Skype activities (such as file transfer). BCP also facilitates delegation of Skype credits for making SkypeOut calls, setting up Skype online numbers, using Skype for SIP voice channels and Skype Access. Fundamentally BCP is a central tool from which an administrator can manage the spend, report on the spend and receive call detail reports.

In the second part of the interview, Matt talks about the business model behind Skype for Business, the charges associated with using Skype for Business services. He talks about Maxim Integrated Products and how they use Skype and BCP for over 2000 paid users within an ecosystem of 5000 Skype users in 70 countries.

Matt goes on to provide some initial feedback on the Skype for SIP public beta program as well as Skype for Asterisk.

Businesses adopting the recently announced FREETALK Connect PBX will need a SkypeID generated via the Business Control Panel as their PBX identifier. In addition a FREETALK Connect administrator can then use the BCP to manage Skype credits allocation, security issues and reporting. Calls coming into a FREETALK Connect PBX via a Skype online number or Skype itself continue have no charge as well as outbound calls to a Skype user.

The entire Skype for Business program will roll out over the next few months such that by the time summer arrives all the various features should be widely available. FREETALK Connect should be available on the Skype Store at the beginning of April.

Other Skype executive interviews from CES 2010:

• Skype for Mobile: An Interview with Skype’s Russ Shaw
• A Conversation with Skype CEO Josh Silverman

Full disclosure: In Store Solutions, producer of the FREETALK Connect PBX, has become a client of Denali InterConneXions, publisher of Voice On The Web, building on the author’s previous business development experience with establishing partnerships that can assist with the promotion of a primary vendor’s offerings. A more complete statement will follow shortly.

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• Skype Security: Is It Safe for Business? (computerworld.com)
• Skype for SIP could save businesses big bucks (thenextweb.com)
• FREETALK Connect Alliance: Partners for Enhancing the Platform (voiceontheweb.biz)
• FREETALK Connect ecosystem forms (saunderslog.com)
• iotum’s Calliflower Conference Call Service Adds Skype Access (voiceontheweb.biz)
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Skype launches an Open Beta phase for its Skype for SIP service. Over 10,000 businesses worldwide have lined up to join the program.

Over the past eight months, Skype has been running a closed Skype for SIP beta program. A couple of PBX vendor agreements have been signed while Skype personnel have been having discussions with potential Skype for Business customers about their use of business communications processes.

Yetersday Skype has announced the launch of the Skype for SIP Open Beta program. According to Skype’s press release nearly ten thousand businesses around the world have applied to participate in this open beta phase. However, this phase is also open to any new applicants, whether PBX manufacturers, SIP gateway vendors or individual enterprises, who want to learn how they can take advantage of Skype for SIP in their business communications.

And why the interest? Skype for SIP:

• allows a business to provide inbound calling from a Skype client (whether on a PC or embedded in devices such as the RTX 3088 Dualphone), web-based click-to-call buttons or a Skype Online number through a SIP-enabled PBX or Unified Communications system.
• provisions outbound calling to landlines and mobile phones worldwide at SkypeOut rates
• has a monthly fee of $6.95/€4.95 per month per concurrent voice channel (which can handle either inbound or outbound calls)
• is managed from the Skype Business Control Panel:
  • to create and manage employees’ or outsourced resources’ Skype accounts
  • to subscribe to Skype Online numbers
  • to allocate SkypeOut credits to employees’ Skype accounts
• allows management of Skype calls via the existing PBX or UC features, such as call routing, conferencing, phone menus and voice mail
• can bring significant communication cost savings to enterprises, whether large, medium or small, especially if they are addressing continental or worldwide markets

From the Skype press release:

A company’s IT administrator just creates and registers a Skype Business Control Panel (BCP) for the organization and then follows the instructions to configure Skype for SIP to work with its existing SIP-enabled communications system. This Web-based tool allows a company to control its Skype usage from a single point and enables centralized billing, easy allocation of Skype Credit, subscriptions and online numbers to users, as well as reporting about both usage and spending. Furthermore, it gives companies the ability to manage internal employee accounts, including who uses Skype and who doesn’t and what features they can use.

As an example of the cost savings, Enterprise Business Development Manager Matthew Jordan described a company who would replace a T1 line with 23 lines at a cost of, say, $400 per month plus per minute toll charges, at up to,say, $0.03/minute, for both inbound and outbound calls. With Skype for SIP, the company would be looking at a cost of $161 per month for the 23 voice channels plus low SkypeOut rates for outbound calls to landlines and mobile phones anywhere worldwide and no charges for inbound calls.

From Skype’s perspective, a primary goal of this beta phase is to monitor usage to determine experience-based usage patterns. To facilitate this goal,  during this open beta Skype for SIP will have a 20% burstage allowances such that a company with 10 channels can actually use up to 12 channels as a means to optimize bursting levels required  based on real calling patterns. With over 10,000 Skype for SIP customers, they hope to gain statistically significant data as well as learn more about scalability and robustness issues.

The entire systems is designed to be global and scalable as numbers build. The required SIP gateways (at sip.skype.com) will be independent of SIP gateways used for legacy consumer SkypeOut calling.

Skype for SIP is a classic case of a transitional offering. Enterprises continue to use their legacy SIP-enabled PBX and then add Skype for SIP such that they can continue making calls but run them over Skype for SIP to reduce costs as they feel more and more comfortable with the advantages of the Skype for SIP exerience. It provides a low cost means of adding voice channels; it also allows a company to expand their calling into new countries at low SkypeOut rates with the only provisioning being the initial setup of Skype for SIP via the business control panel.

More information, including an introductory video, can be obtained and Business Control Panel accounts set up at the Skype for SIP beta website at sip.skype.com.

• Peter Parkes: Skype for Business Blog: Skype for SIP beta program opens up to all businesses.
• All Voice On The Web posts mentioning Skype for SIP.
• Andy Abramson talks about the “Skype Pipe”; he thinks “…. Skype just created a massive pipe into the corporate market.”

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• Skype For SIP Interoperability With Cisco Gear Confirmed (techcrunchit.com)
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• How Skype Plans to Dominate Business Telephony (gigaom.com)
• Barriers to using Skype for business fall away (infoworld.com)

Building on Skype’s recent announcements of its evolving Skype for Business activities, Chief Strategy Office Christopher Dean gave a keynote address yesterday at a joint VON/Channel Partners Conference session. Three posts have followed up on the session:

Khali Henderson, in Skype Not Just Telecom’s “Bad Boy”, CSO Says, reports Christopher’s overview of their approach to business markets:

“Skype is no longer just sort of the ‘bad boy,’ disruptive influence in the telecommunications market,” he said. “What we offer is strong opportunities to leverage these trends for operators and their customers.”

The company, he said, is actively seeking partnerships with service providers – wireless and wireline operators and MSOs – as well as OEMs and ISVs and applications developers, to be part of what he calls an “emerging ecosystem.” Skype’s role is to be an overlay of services – audio conferencing, video, desktop sharing, presence, IM, file sharing and more – that drive demand.

Khali reports that Christopher went on to discuss the success of Skype’s partnership with the Hutchison 3 Group and the services offered involving 3’s Skypephone as an example of how Skype has helped a partner successfully build their business.

Alec Saunders reports on the session in Skype counters critics, embraces ecosystem:

…. Skype CSO Chris Dean began his remarks at VON by saying that there is an ongoing sea change in the telecom market, and it’s only accelerating.  The macro trends are around wireless, wireline, emerging applications and service models, the economy and the regulatory environment.  And he warned that there are immense risks to operators that don’t adapt.

Jon Arnold, in VON – Final Day/Skype Keynote – Seeking Channel Partners, reports:

Most of us know this [the business market] is a top priority for Skype, and the most newsworthy item from the keynote was their new focus on channels, which of course ties in nicely with both events here – VON and Channel Partners. The main idea here is that Skype will be launching a service provider VAR program later this year. Christopher provided a URL about the program for reference, but as you’ll see, there’s not much there yet.

So, in the course of a few minutes, the audience heard about how Skype is looking to cross the chasm and partner with service providers. That creates all kinds of interesting scenarios, and Christopher pointed out how this is part of their bigger vision to be more open and partner-friendly in the post-eBay world. On that note, he didn’t have much to say about the Extras program other than they understand how important it is, and are overhauling it now. So, it’s not quite dead yet….

Getting out a message differentiating the Extras program as a partner marketing program, which is coming to an end, from the evolution of any forthcoming Skype developer program has been difficult challenge for Skype. I suspect Christopher was really referring to Skype understanding how important a well-articulated and effective Skype developer partner program is. Reference to the Skype Service Partner Program was made in yesterday’s post: Skype for SIP: Getting Legitimization, Endorsement and Traction.

Bottom line: Christopher’s keynote is one more sign that Skype is getting serious about its approach to the business market, building on the recent launch of Skype for Asterisk and Skype for SIP. A significant challenge will be, once Skype is embedded within business communications infrastructure as a voice calling option, to evolve such that this infrastructure can then take advantage of its presence, chat and video infrastructure.

But perhaps more important: For over six years consumers and many businesses have experienced Skype as a lowl cost or free voice, chat and, more recently, video conversation service – with minimal support from Skype itself. Skype is finally gaining acceptance, certainly now at the communications vendor level, as a viable and reliable alternative to legacy PSTN services. And Skype finally appears to be building the resources and programs required to properly support business communications operations.

This trend recalls the early days, 25 years ago, of the PC itself when adoption of the PC as an enterprise resource only came about because employees were bringing PC’s into their offices on an individual basis and demonstrating the resulting productivity and cost effectiveness to their management. Been there; done that!

Skype VON 2009 Keynote Presentation – Christopher S Dean

View more documents from SkypeConversations.

Thanks to Jon Arnold for providing the pictures, with permission.

Saunderslog.com:  Virgo’s first VON a solid outing

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Over the past two weeks we have started to see signs of a transition period for Skype’s developer support activities. Yes, Skype Extras is dead; however the current Skype API’s remain supported. Jonathan Christensen gave Michael Arrington at TechCrunch some hints of forthcoming developer support activity.  Skype for Asterisk was launched three weeks ago. All this builds on the “Skype Everywhere” theme announced last January at CES 2009.

And whither the Skype for SIP activity whose beta program was launched six months ago? Over the past two weeks we have seen a couple of Skype for SIP launch partner interoperability announcements incorporating Skype interoperability into their Unified Communications offerings:

• the initial announcement covered incorporation of Skype interoperability as a feature for Shoretel’s 11,000 enterprise customers using Shoretel’s IP Phone Systems.
• this was followed by an announcement of incorporation into the SIPfoundry’s open source enterprise IP PBX unified communications solution for organizations running a sipXecs IP PBX.

But today’s announcement of Skype for SIP interoperability with Cisco’s Unified Communications 500 Series for Small Business opens up significant new markets for Skype through Cisco’s extensive worldwide reseller channels. From the press release:

“Cisco is committed to delivering easy-to-use technology to small businesses to help them run their business better and gain a competitive advantage,” said Mark Monday, vice president and general manager, Small Business Solutions business unit, Cisco. “We are excited about Skype for SIP interoperability since it adds a very cost-effective choice to the many other options within the Cisco Unified Communications 500 Series.”

Note that Cisco VARS will be required to register for a new Skype Service Partner certification program covering configuration of the Cisco solution to support Skype for SIP. And that the Skype for SIP interoperability with the Cisco 500 Series goes through third party certification at tekVizion Labs, an independent interoperability testing facility in Richardson, Texas.

In all three cases Skype for SIP increases the enterprise’s or organization’s worldwide communications choices while reducing costs through:

• taking advantage of Skype’s interconnection to the PSTN that provides low cost (SkyepOut) calling to most countries worldwide
• receiving inbound calls from Skype users via a global click-to-call button on the enterprise’s or organization’s website
• receiving inbound calls via Skype Online numbers in 25 countries (previously SkypeIn)
• interoperation of these features with all the other features of the PBX offerings of  Shoretel, sipFoundry and Cisco’s 500 Series, such as call transfer, call forwarding, voicemail, etc.

For organizations and enterprises, the availability of Skype for SIP, Skype for Asterisk and the Skype API’s used by Skype’s other business communications partners, such as OnState and Scendix (PamFax), brings about significant overhead benefits. This offering:

• ensures that, with one service, the enterprise can achieve low cost calling to any country worldwide without the need to mange and use country- or region-specific calling plans offered by the legacy PSTN telcos.
• eliminates a layer of communications cost overhead through the value-add of making all Skype’s global termination agreements available through one source via the various Skype for Business partners’ distribution and reseller channels.

Bottom Line: These announcements all build on Skype’s “Skype Everywhere” strategy. The key point here is that, going forward, Skype’s developer and partner activities will focus on transitioning business markets into Skype services by Skype-enabling legacy communications services and platforms, complementing its prior focus on applications that bring about communications enhanced business processes.

As predicted last spring these announcements execute on Business Long Distance: Death by 1,000,000 PBX’s.

Dan York says “Congrats to Skype and Cisco on this announcement”.

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Following a link from Dan York’s update to his post outlining technical details of Skype for SIP, I found a link to this post from IfByPhone’s Irv Shapiro: Why Skype for Asterisk is more important than Skype for SIP.

First, Irv has done perhaps the best articulation yet differentiating Skype for Asterisk from Skype for SIP:

Skype for Asterisk, which is still in closed beta, is a true Asterisk channel driver. This allows Asterisk based solutions to make, receive and transfer Skype calls. A significant capability of the SFA solution is its support for terminating a call to a Skype user name, for example a PC based user of the Skype client.

Skype for SIP is a very different animal. This service provides VOIP trunk support for existing SIP based PBX systems, which may include Asterisk. Unlike SFA where calls may be placed to any Skype user, SFS calls may only be terminated to PSTN end points.

Irv goes on to provide his view on how this plays in the Voice/Telco 2.0 marketplace. Then he provides an example of where he sees the benefit of SFA for hosted services:

From our perspective as a cloud telephony company, providing hosted telephone applications, SFA is much more interesting. While either service would allow us to provide IVR services to Skype users, the SFA Asterisk channel driver architecture allows us to terminate calls into call centers with no PSTN transport. Each call center Agent would just utilize a headset connected to a computer running the traditional Skype application. Customers calls would be able to originate from either a PSTN device or a Skype client, then route through the Ifbyphone IVR infrastructure and terminate to a call center via Skype’s computer to computer transport. This has the potential to change the cost structure associated with supporting call centers. A Skype based call center would not require a PBX or for even any centralized telephony components. The call center agents could be virtually located anywhere in the world on high quality Internet connections.

Keep in mind that calls terminated on Skype, as demonstrated on the 3 Skypehone service, have no associated termination charges. Long time Skype-based call center provider OnState has already demonstrated this business model; their hosted OnState Call Center service eliminates the need for a call center PBX. While a (prospective) customer can call in via several modes (Skype Online number, DID numbers, 800 numbers, Skype or click-to-call from a website), all the calls are terminated on Skype via their agent client.

Andy Abramson at VoIP Watch has, in a reverse manner, demonstrated this cost advantage also in his post, All Google Voice Needs Is a Little More SIP and Skype’s Game Changes, where he points out that, if Skype for SIP did terminate calls on a Skype client (i.e. – supported SIP—>Skype), then one could terminate Google Voice calls at a Skype client. But, as I have commented on that post and included in Skype for SIP: Sorting Through the Issues, Skype for SIP supports three types of connections and “SIP—>Skype” is not one of them.

Irv demonstrates that Skype for Asterisk has some interesting potential; it’s simply going to require more creative innovation that goes beyond simply making call connections through a SIP interface. It’s a matter of invoking Alec Saunders Voice 2.0 Manifesto which points out that the value lies in the applications.

The Voice On The Web public chat has continued to be lively through the week. Not only has Skype’s Senior Product Manager responsible for Skype for SIP, Chris Moore, participated but a couple of other guests have joined the discussion to clarify some issues.

First to summarize Chris’ comments:

• He is sorting through the overwhelming number of beta program applications with the intent to make accepted accounts live early next week
• G.711 codec support is in the late stages of development and may be available as early as next week; this will be accompanied by a list of countries where G.711 is supported.
• Chris has been taking input from participants with respect to SIP header information that would make Skype for SIP more broadly applicable. This, of course, leads into a discussion of going outside the “box” of SIP header standards. (SIP headers basically provide information that is transferred across a SIP connection.) More information from Jason Goecke at Adhearsion; Dan York at Voxeo has made an initial suggestion over at Github.

However, more significant have the the responses from Digium about their perspective on where Skype for Asterisk is positioned and the participation of David Tang, Vice President, Global Marketing at VoSKY in the Public Chat discussion.

Steve Sokol at Digium put up a post, “The Rumors Of Our Death” where he outlines key differentiators of Skype for Asterisk from Skype for SIP (slightly revised by Steve after feedback from Skype and chat participants):

• SFA can handle incoming Skype calls directly from any user on the Skype network.  SFS can receive incoming calls from Skype users names that are statically mapped to a Skype name to a SIP account.
• SFA can place calls to any user on the Skype network.  SFS cannot place calls to Skype users.
• SFA includes support for Skype presence information.  SFS has no support for presence.
• SFA includes buddy list management.  SFS has no buddy list management features.
• SFA calls are encrypted from end-to-end while SFS calls are delivered to the SFS endpoint devices (PBX) as unencrypted RTP streams.
• SFA supports multiple media codecs including G.711 aLaw and uLaw as well as G.729.  Wide-band audio will be available in a near-term revision.  SFS supports only compressed telephony-grade G.729 media streams.

Ultimately, the key differentiator is that SFA is designed to allow developers to build rich applications that are deeply integrated with the Skype network, while the SFS offering is a trunking solution for legacy IP-PBX systems that support SIP. Both have their place and neither is specifically competitive with the other. Both Digium and Skype are dedicated to Skype For Asterisk and both are working hard to make sure that when released it exceeds expectations.

Steve then goes on to discuss the current status of Skype for Asterisk, why it is taking so long to come out of beta and makes this important point about changes in the Skype Business Control Panel:

Enter the Skype Business Control Panel (BCP).  Skype’s Skype For Business division has launched an all-out effort to make business customers a corporate priority. Currently the BCP is simply a way to aggregate and share Skype credit.  As business services like SFA and SFS are rolled out it will take on a much more prominent role as the administrative interface for commercial customers.

The next update to the BCP will allow business customers to create master accounts that are owned and managed by companies rather than individuals.  With the BCP, Bob’s account would have belonged to AGI rather than to Bob, much like his AGI email account and company credit card.  If Bob went in search of greener pastures the system administrator could simply redirect his calls to another sales guy.

Jason Goecke has then put up his second post on Skype for SIP, Skype for Asterisk DOA; long live Skype for Asterisk, clarifying his positioning of the two offerings and concludes with:

The point is not to declare SFA dead, but to highlight these points in the hopes that the opportunities for deeper integration and the associated benefits are clear. For SFA to overshadow the SFS announcement, I contend these features are needed:

• Two-way chat via the Manager API
• Extended presence support
• SILK-codec support, which would require end-points (ie – SIP soft phones/hardware phones) embedding SILK

I understand that Digium and Skype need to get SFA to market, but a clear roadmap of what comes next and the timing would be immensely useful as developers look to place their bets. I applaud the work that Skype and Digium have been doing and the opening of the Skype network on multiple fronts. I just hope this is an opportunity to open the Skype network that little bit more.

David Tang at VoSKY has also contributed to the discussion; his main point:

We have our fair share of scars from being an early pioneer working with Skype.  Digium is just beginning to experience it.

From the tone of a few comments re VoSKY in the chat and considering their long experience with Skype implementations in businesses, a large reseller network and their creative ingenuity, we can expect that VoSKY will figure out a way to  go beyond simply continuing to be a “Skype trunking” solution for legacy PBX’s lacking SIP support (non-SIP PBX’s).

Back to the Business Control Panel (“BCP”) and its role. To date it has simply been a means for an administrator to manage Skype accounts in terms of handling Skype credits and implementing Skype on PC’s within an enterprise. Going forward Chris Moore has made the following comment:

I think I’ve chatted about the BCP in some interviews, yes the BCP will take a larger role in administration for small business of existing and new services. It will be the central portal for an SMB to use Skype.

Seems that there are many of the Voice On The Web Public Chat who are ready to start experimenting and developing with Skype for SIP; I look forward to monitoring the feedback as they finally get their hands-on experiences. Bottom line: from these developers, Digium, VoSKY and others, Skype has launched a significant opportunity to see innovation at work solving real business communications issues.

Overall Skype is starting to execute on their Business strategy through the new Business marketing group. The Business Control Panel is central to this strategy. We now have seen three activities in that direction: Skype for SIP, Skype for Asterisk and the Lotus Live support.

Update: Chris Moore has confirmed that the first beta account acceptances have gone out today; login details and passwords will be issued Monday/Tuesday next week.

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Yesterday’s announcement of the Skype for SIP beta created lots of commentary in the blogosphere; it remained the leading topic on Techmeme for several hours.

• Phil Wolff over at Skype Journal, in “Skype For SIP: Big Money, Skypeless, Brand Destroyer”, outlines some of the positioning with respect to Skype for Asterisk, channel schism issues and worries that it abandons Skype’s central tenants and could undermine the brand.
• Alec Saunders, in “Skype embraces SIP; announces beta service for business users”, talks about the impact on businesses using legacy PBX’s, the increased pressure on international long distance markets and a reminder that about 1/3 of all current Skype traffic is business related.
• Jason Goecke at Ahearsion, a Skype for Asterisk beta developer, worries about the impact on the market for Skype for Asterisk in “Skype for SIP = Skype for Asterisk DOA?”

But most interesting was the Voice On The Web Public Chat session that ensued. Being on a vacation I was away from my laptop for about seven hours (yes, it was a great day to be golfing) but when I returned I found a session that not only provided the flavor of the vibrant debate going on but also many answers. The key – Chris Moore, Skype’s Senior Product Manager responsible for Skype for SIP joined into the discussion to make several points:

• Most importantly – this is Skype for SIP beta; his team is looking for feedback from a range of beta testers, not only third party developers but also the IP PBX vendors themselves. To quote Chris:
  

  Yep, whole idea is to get feedback, see what people want/don’t want to help prioritize development of new features. Our group, Skype For Business, is getting a lot of focus and its a key strategic focal point for Skype now. We’ll never get it completely right at the start, but a start is still a start

• To qualify as a beta tester you need to have some experience with configuring IP PBX’s that are currently in the market. For instance, “you must have, and be able to configure, your own SIP Enabled PBX that supports G.729 codec.”
• Beta testers will need to create a temporary Skype name to use in the beta program; the issue of a separate SkypeID and how it was handled was hotly debated.
  One point to clarify:

  Skype for SIP actually can allow multiple Skype IDs to be mapped through to a single SIP identity. However, during the beta period, we are only supporting a 1 to 1 mapping due to the fact that Skype’s advanced Business Control Panel (BCP) configuration portal is not yet available at this time. If a company wishes to configure multiple Skype ID’s mapped to a SIP identity, we can accommodate this for a subset of the beta trial participants.

• The key connections made by Skype for SIP are:
  

  - PBX –> SkypeOut (PSTN)
  - SkypeIn/Online numbers (PSTN) –> PBX
  - Skype Clients –> PBX

• The business model, including pricing, has yet to be worked out. It will require Skype to determine a means to separate out business users from “consumer” users on both Skype for SIP and Skype for Asterisk. The principle here is that business benefits from the various features of these offerings; where such significant value-add exists there is a market for the services. But any pricing for either offering is yet to be determined, keeping in mind that both offerings’ desire to make significant market penetration will be a key moderator on pricing. Again quoting Chris:
  

  no new road is easy and enhancing our focus so Skype can support business users as a distinct group differently from consumers takes some work

• Differentiation from Skype for Asterisk will be an ongoing challenge. Initially Skype for Asterisk, which will be an Asterisk channel, includes handling SIP—>Skype calls, Skype-to-Skype calls and will incorporate presence information. (My comments on an ignored aspect differentiating these are below.)
• While SFS may incorporate some “Skype trunking” capability, SFS also offers the handling of inbound calling from Skype Online numbers.
• As for the current status of SFS, Chris says the focus at the moment is on getting voice connections right as this is the feature most demanded in the market:
  

  and this is baby steps for Skype, there are many more UC services to come, voice for SIP is the biggest ask from customers. Video/presence etc only make  sense when codecs are common between skype clients and SIP endpoints.Some work left there!

• Codecs are an issue. The initially supported G.729 codec requires licensing. The Skype for Business team is working on incorporation of G.711 within a few weeks but eventually hopes to assist with the adoption of the SILK codec across the industry by supporting SILK. But this also requires SILK support at the end points. Bottom line: codecs have both a technology and business issues to be resolved.
• Security is an issue that will probably provide one of the major challenges as Skype opens up access to its cloud from both Skype for Business offerings.

My own observations, not having been around for the discussion:

• Skype for SIP and Skype for Asterisk: the discussion yesterday centered on technical issues but totally ignored the market channel issues.
• Skype for SIP requires working with the various IP PBX vendors who have their own distribution channels; Skype for Asterisk is a partnering project with Digium who has its own unique distribution channels. These channels are both looking for innovation that keeps them in business. Yes, the common issue is that SFS and SFA both threaten the long distance market, but the VAR’s and System Integrators in these channels will need new offerings that meet this challenge.
• A significant challenge for both SFA and SFS will be the User Interface. How much will either of these products make the installation,  configuration and operational aspects so user friendly that outside support requirements are minimized or eliminated. This is a huge challenge in the SMB market as many small business owners will simply not want to be involved with such issues; they have their own business specialty to focus on. The value-add of VAR’s and SI’s serving any business market comes in making business communications low cost, seamless to the business operation and five 9’s uptime for their customers.
• There is not one solution that will meet the complete world of business needs. Currently in this SMB space we have several vendors: Cisco, Microsoft Response Point, Avaya, Siemens, etc. The world would be up in arms if there were only one offering for providing the disruptive innovation for which Skype can provide support to these channels.
• The issue of addressing consumer users vs business issues recalls the PC market twenty years ago when PC hardware vendors, initially Compaq, finally figured out how to differentiate and address these markets. This was a major issue I had to deal with in setting up a PC reseller network at the time. Today we see Dell addressing these various markets as soon as you launch into their website.

The Skype-enabled world is only healthy if there are alternative offerings and channels. Recall the theme of Skype President Josh Silverman’s reminder to the analysts last week: “Skype is a software company but we plan to be everywhere”. The Skype for Business group is focusing on making the software required to support these offerings; this software will leverage the IP PBX vendors and Digium distribution channels to drive adoption through into the various regional business market channels worldwide.

Update: While Om’s post, Skype Now Means Business, Friends the SIP World, demonstrates that he has not been following very closely the strategy being laid out by Skype’s new executive team over the past few months, the comment stream it triggered  is well worth reading. For instance, check out SFA developer Tim Panton’s comment about the opportunity for innovation he has found in SFA:

That aside, I’m a huge fan of S4A and our experience to date has been positive. We leverage the improved identity management (vs PSTN or SIP) and low costs of Skype to do some very cool integration with business processes and web applications by routing Skype calls through the extensible and scriptable platform of Asterisk. [author’s bold]

Next Post: Why Skype needs to get Skype Public Chat back into the latest release of Skype for Windows 4.0. The discussion referenced above demonstrates that this is the major failing of this version.

Update: Andy Abramson at VoIP Watch: Skype and SIP Equals A Takeaway of Toll Free

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• Skype Taps ShoreTel for Enterprise Play (gigaom.com)

Skype announces launch of a beta version of Skype for SIP, connecting IP-PBX’s to the Skype cloud.

Dan York, while a keen supporter of Skype, has been campaigning for a Skype to SIP interconnect on his Disruptive Telephony blog. In a post last fall, “Skype and SIP – the two sides of the issue raised by Michael Robertson”, he says:

We need to build the interconnect.

Yeah, there are a TON of issues out there that we still need to address to build that interconnect. There’s a whole host of security issues… there are billing issues… there are trust issues… there are network plumbing issues. Yes, there are all those issues. But if we are to succeed in ultimately bringing about the rich communication experience we want, we need to make this happen.

And for that, Skype’s walls need to come down…. at least a bit.

What we need is that Interconnect from Skype’s cloud out to the emerging IP infrastructure. Think about it… Skype right now has a two-way interconnect between Skype’s cloud and the cloud we know as the PSTN. It’s called “SkypeOut” and “SkypeIn” (or whatever marketing names they are being called now). If you dial my SkypeIn number, you can reach me on Skype wherever I am. From my Skype client, I can call anyone on the PSTN. The two-way interconnect is already there.

This morning Skype announced the launch of a beta version of Skype for SIP as a major initiative for further penetration into the business market. Basically Skype for SIP allows SIP PBX owners to access the Skype cloud as additional inbound lines , via Skype Online numbers, and outbound extensions to their existing PBX, via SkypeOut. From the press release:

Key Features

The beta version of Skype For SIP will enable business users to:

• Receive and manage inbound calls from Skype users worldwide on SIP-enabled PBX systems; connecting the company Web site to the PBX system via click-to-call
• Place calls with Skype to landlines and mobile phones worldwide from any connected SIP-enabled PBX; reducing costs with Skype’s low-cost global rates
• Purchase Skype’s online numbers, to receive calls to the corporate PBX from landlines or mobile phones
• Manage Skype calls using their existing hardware and system applications such as call routing, conferencing, phone menus and voicemail; no additional downloads or training are required.

In an interview with Skype Senior Product Manager Chris Moore, I learned:

• Skype’s’ goal will be to have a totally user friendly interface such that Skype for SIP is a seamless service
• Administration will be done through an extended Skype Business Control Panel interface which, amongst other activities will establish Skype for SIP account mapping, manage online numbers and perform appropriate configuration for the various PBX’s.
• Skype will be looking to work with the various SIP PBX and Unified Communications vendors, such as Cisco, Avaya, Nortel and Siemens. When I asked about Microsoft Response Point, which had been demonstrated to me the previous day, Chris confirmed, yes, they were another prospective vendor to be approached.
• during the beta, Skype will be used on a pay-as-you-go basis; pricing for the service once it is launched has yet to be determined
• Skype will be including security issues as one major consideration (I expect Dan York to have more to say on this issue)
• The service will be configured to take advantage of Skype’s royalty free SILK codec; if both endpoints of a call support SILK, then the SILK support will carry across the Skype for SIP interface.

This has to be a landmark announcement for the IP-based communications space. It effectively allows businesses to integrate the Skype cloud into existing infrastructure to handle all long distance and international calling. Some other initial observations:

• Does Skype for SIP impact the space currently served by Vosky’s PBX services?  It definitely leaves open for Vosky the analog PBX market; one question will be how does Vosky figure out a way to work Skype for SIP into their business activities and offerings during the six- to twelve-month beta?
• It’s currently a beta; applicants for beta participation can apply at www.skypeforsip.com. From the press release: “Applicants will need to be businesses, have an installed SIP based IP-PBX system, as well as a level of technical competency to configure their own SIP-enabled PBX. The initial beta is available to a limited number of participants.”
• Skype also expects to determine an appropriate distribution channel. While ease-of-use is a key goal, there will still be small business owners who will want third party expertise to manage their communications activities. So expect Skype to look to a VAR or Systems Integrator channel to support implementation.
• Skype for SIP broadens Skype’s penetration into the small-to-medium business market. Where Skype for Asterisk introduces a Skype feature-rich Asterisk channel to Asterisk PBX’s, Skype for SIP simply brings Skype cloud connectivity to a major subset of existing small business PBX installations.
• Along another feature axis we see hosted services vs on-premise implementations. Will widely geographically distributed small businesses favor a hosted service, such as OnState’s Virtual PBX, or one of these on-premise PBX offerings.

One sure call: the market for business long distance, especially international calling, is about to be radically disrupted as these services come into play. It brings about new business opportunities and, most significantly, makes any business a global business, if the will is there. With probably over one million IP PBX’s out there (Skype’s press release says over 438,000 were sold in 2008 along), Skype for SIP brings the slow but sure death of legacy international calling, one PBX at a time.

And, of course, Dan York brings his deep perspective, not only on how Skype for SIP works, but also on the security and codec issues surronding Skype for SIP: Skype tears down more walls with “Skype For SIP”.