Skype looks for corporate businesses to boost revenue

eBay-owned voice over Internet protocol provider, Skype, plans to enter into the corporate business with the beta version of Skype For SIP for business users, as a step to generate a billion dollars in revenue for eBay by 2011.

Businesses can now make and receive local and international calls to landlines and mobiles for a low fee using normal telephones or through the company SIP-enabled PBX systems instead of using a headset from a personal computer while it retains the free calls made from computers to phone systems using the Skype software.

In addition, businesses can choose to purchase online Skype numbers available in over 20 countries to receive calls from business contacts and customers who are using traditional fixed lines or mobile phones

SIP, short for Session Initiation Protocol, is an open standard and the leading voice over Internet protocol used in businesses telephony networks at millions of locations globally and Skype for SIP allows SIP PBX owners to make calls with Skype's low cost calls to fixed phones and mobiles around the world, and to receive calls from Skype users directly into their PBX system.

Businesses can now be reached by the community of over 405 million Skype registered users through click-to-call from their business Web sites.

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

"Businesses have been waiting for Skype to make a concerted push into the business space for a while," said Rebecca Swensen, IDC's Research Analyst, Enterprise Mobility and IP Communications Services. "Connecting to existing standards-based SIP PBX's is a good way for Skype to start doing so. It will be interesting to see how large companies change their thinking about the deployment of Skype within the network."

Luxembourg-based Skype was founded in 2003 and has revolutionised the way people communicate around the world.

It has more than 405 million registered users globally who use Skype software to communicate for free through voice and video calls as well as instant messages and it generates revenue through its premium offerings, such as calls made to and from landlines and mobiles, voicemail, call forwarding, and SMS.

Skype is used in almost every country on Earth, and people have made more than 100 billion minutes worth of free Skype-to-Skype calls since conversations over Skype can take place on computers, mobile devices and Skype certified hardware.

Access to a broadband Internet connection is required to use Skype and it is not a replacement for traditional telephone service and cannot be used for emergency calling.