SKIP2PBX - Using Skype in an Integrated Environment
A week or so ago, Luca Gammelli with SKIP2PBX contacted me on Skype. He'd seen some of my writeyp of Actiontec's VoSKY products and was curious whether I'd be interested in testing the SKIP2PBX solution.
Since I don't have a PBX in my test lab any longer, I wanted to read a bit first. Here's a little of what I've learned.
SKIP@PBX is simple to install and only requires a Pentium 3 processor. It can connect up to 99 concurrent lines and make calls to either Skype accounts or PSTN numbers through SkypeOUT. It can receive calls either from Skype users or SkypeIN. There's no client software needed. And it's compatible with any PBX that supports analog or ISDN lines. It doesn't have to be a VoIP PBX from all I can find.
It's an alternative solution to Actiontec's VoSKY Exchange (which I did not test) in that it essentially let's you treat Skype as yet another PBX trunk for call handling.
One thing I found quite nice was their Web Interface Live Demo.
Here's a visual of how things all connect up from their web site.
One of the benefits of both SKIP2PBX and Actiontec is the way it can eliminate some of the security concern of peer-to-peer solutions in a corporate network. Kudos to SKIP2PBX for doing a nice job of explaining how their solution helps support corporate security requirements. You can read that info here.
Like the full blown VoSKY Exchange, SKIP2PBX is an interesting solution that looks to be very solid. I don't have the time or resources to test this solution either, but if you're looking for a way to use Skype as a trunked facility from yuor business PBX, this could well be worth your time.
Technorati Tags: SKIP2PBX, VoIP, Skype, corporate VoIP
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Comments
I'd like to mention that this S2P product is not certified by Skype, unlike the VoSKY Exchange products. You'll find the difference to be night and day.
For more information on Skype for Business check out: http://skype4biz.blogspot.com
Happy Skypeing
Posted by: SkypeMe | December 14, 2006 1:15 PM
S2P is not skype Certified Because skype doesn't have ny Certification Specs for Web Based Application.
Vosky Echange is only capable to run up to 4 concurrent lines on a Windows XP computer. Skip2PBX is the first Web Based Solution.
Posted by: Luca Gammelli | January 5, 2007 4:51 PM
Skype certification does help saving time for product survey. However, it is more practical to focus more on voice quality, PBX competibility, modulized design, scalability at good cost-performance. Skype Enterprise Portal ID and Skype Web call center becomes so popular, you can checkout the ZOT skype gateway. SKIP2PBX is also a great integration software.
Posted by: LiTE LU | March 14, 2007 1:30 AM
The difference between Skip2PBX and Vosky is indeed night and day as Skypeme above tries to say. However I have checked them both out and Skip2PBX surpasses it in every category pointed out by LieLU (i.e. scalability (from 2 to 30 lines) "voice quality" in the ways it virtually eliminates echo etcetera and has great sound with clever integration with digium cards or especially with simple usb box. Compatibile with any PBX and not sole-ly dependent on their own hardware (like Vosky) one should beware of how easy it is to buy the "certified" label sometimes without paying attention to and evaluating certain products like Skip2PBX that can stand on their own professional credentials. I put a lot of time into shopping for this kind of product and it seems like we probably open up a big can of worms with this "certified" debate.
Posted by: Jeffrey Everson | August 10, 2007 1:27 AM
I tried Skip2PBX and I just wanted to share with other readers that it works really good! Even with my asterisk set up I found Skip2PBX to be pretty much flawless regarding everything our business needed to do with it.
Posted by: Anthony Waterston | October 30, 2007 3:23 AM