Skype dials in to business

09.03.2006
The consumer VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) darling Skype dialed in to small-business and branch office needs Thursday with a new offering, Skype for Business.

The move builds on Skype's existing small business offerings with a dedicated Web site, skype.biz, and support, new hardware and new features to better manage groups of users and prepaid accounts, Skype said Thursday.

Many eyes have been on the eBay-owned company since its bold move early this year to weave its household-name IP telephony software into Salesforce.com to offer click-to-call and presence to the hosted CRM tool.

The move is at least enough to boost its revenue and let it grow beyond its customer base of 75 million.

Unlike with consumers, who use Skype mainly to make free calls to other Skype users, businesses are paying for the ability to call out to PSTN numbers from a personal computer. The cost is about US$35 a year.

Standard Centrex lines run about US$50 a month per line. Other VOIP players such as Vonage offer a sweet spot on the price scale for SMBs at about $40 a month.