Digium, the Asterisk Company, and Skype announced the general availability of Skype for Asterisk.
Skype for Asterisk is an add-on channel driver for Asterisk-based PBX systems. The software is compatible with the free and open source Asterisk versions 1.4, 1.6 and AsteriskNOW, as well as the commercially licensed Asterisk Business Edition.
It enables multiple concurrent Skype calls from a single Skype account, and supports both G.711 and G.729a calling.
According to Digium, with the new software, customers can:
• Manage business Skype accounts with the Business Control Panel
• Get low Skype global rates on outbound calls (as low as 2.1US¢ per minute)
• Receive inbound calls to online numbers
• Route calls according to Skype profile fields, online status and privacy settings
• Streamline customer contact by allowing Web site visitors to place free Skype calls directly to their business with global click-to-call buttons
The companies promote the software as a solution for connecting Asterisk-based business phone systems to Skype.
“We created Skype accounts such as Digium Sales and Digium Support—a convention I suspect many companies will quickly adopt. Now, our customers all over the world can call us for free using Skype and our Asterisk PBX processes the inbound call just like it would a normal call,” said Danny Windham, CEO of Digium.
“Skype for Asterisk allows businesses to access the 400 million community of people communicating over the Internet, natively encrypts all voice calls and lets companies manage their Skype user accounts via Skype’s Web-based Business Control Panel,” the company says.
Businesses already using an Asterisk-based phone system can add Skype as another complementary form of communications by downloading Skype for Asterisk, without additional costly hardware.
Skype for Asterisk is available to download for $66 per concurrent call. It comes with 90 days of installation support from the time of purchase.
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