I got a question in email from the Operations Director of a firm in the UK. Paul graciously agreed to let me share the question with all of you reading here..

We are looking to get an Asterisk PBX and we want to be able to contact people using Skype, but not SkypeIn (we don’t want to have to pay for the calls if we don’t have to). I was initially told that there was no way for this to be done, but it looks like it may be available very soon. Can you point me in the direction of someone who will be able to help me get the software or whatever it is I need (not a programmer as you have probably guessed) to make Skype calls from a Asterisk system?

I'm not sure I'm really the strongest resource for this, but I can offer some thoughts and observations. Personally, I've only implemented one Asterisk system in my own test lab. I use Skype, both SkypeIn and SkypeOut, but not as much as one might think.

I know Skype is opening up API interfaces that would allow someone to build the sort of interface you're describing. I think it would take both a working API, which I don't think is available yet. Then as Asterisk developer would have to go to work. I'm confident that when it's doable, there will be quite a bit of chatter online. I'd suggest watching the net for chatter about it.

That said, you might look at https://developer.skype.com/ and http://share.skype.com/sites/devzone/ where Skype developers hang out. You might even ask your question there. I'd bet there's an Asterisk developer or two hanging around there watching and waiting to go to work on just what you describe.