Skype announces “Skype For SIP” to provide SIP connectivity to premise systems
March 24th, 2009 by Dan YorkYesterday Skype announced the beta program for “Skype For SIP“, a new service that allows some forms of SIP connectivity between a premise-based SIP server/IP-PBX and Skype’s cloud and the PSTN. Over the weekend I put together a very lengthy post on my external DisruptiveTelephony blog that goes into the service in great detail, but the net of it is that when you sign up for the “Skype For SIP” service, you will be able to:
- Receive inbound calls to your SIP server from Skype users.
- Receive inbound calls to “Online Numbers” (formerly “SkypeIn”) that are routed to your SIP server.
- Place outbound calls to PSTN phone numbers using what was called “SkypeOut” and at Skype’s cheap rates.
The calls from Skype users are free to all involved. The Online Numbers only cost you $60 per year and the outbound calls are at Skype’s various rates.
The program, at www.skypeforsip.com, is accepting applications into the beta program now. Skype isn’t clear on when it will leave beta, but is clear that they will be evolving the program over the next weeks and months.
Note that what you are NOT able to do is to place calls from your SIP server to Skype users. So the interaction with Skype clients is one way – you can receive calls from Skype clients but not call those (at least not yet). As IfByPhone CEO Irv Shapiro notes in his blog post, Skype also has the “Skype For Asterisk” service available in a beta form and it does provide two-way connectivity to Skype users.
From a Voxeo point-of-view, what’s interesting is that this seems to have the potential of providing to users of our premise application platform, Prophecy, a similar kind of inbound Skype connectivity to what we’ve had for about four years now in our hosted application platform (and about which I wrote about last year). According to the info from Skype, Skype users would be able to call into applications by calling a Skype name which would then route the call over SIP to Prophecy. It’s a bit different from our hosted Skype connectivity in that it is a Skype name directing you to the entire platform, whereas in our hosted environment you have a Skype address for each application. Prophecy users would also, it seems, be able to use Skype For SIP to have outbound PSTN connectivity (a.k.a. “SIP trunking”) subject to Skype’s rates.
We’ll have to see how that all shakes out once we can try the software out, but it’s interesting nonetheless. Kudos to Skype for lowering their walls a bit and providing this kind of SIP support.
UPDATE: I also have a video podcast, Emerging Tech Talk #28, up on the subject.
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Related posts:
- EComm2008 – Jonathan Christensen of Skype and the “unrealized” vision of SIP…
- Skype imports some SIP DNA by hiring CounterPath CTO Jason Fischl
- P2P SIP – an effort to make a open standards/SIP version of Skype?
- Guest post: David Bryan responds on P2P, P2PSIP and Skype
- Could Skype realistically replace its P2P algorithm with P2PSIP?
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March 25th, 2009 at 1:42 am
Can somebody please tell me how to receive Skype calls on SIP software and hardware? Michael Robertson tells it as a feature.
I’ve read his OpenSky manual 3 times but I didn’t find it. In fact it’s not possible.
The only way I see is to call the phone number that is associated to every Gizmo5 account via Skypeout. But this costs money and probably touches the PSTN. It’s not “receive Skype calls on SIP software and hardware” as Michael Robertson states.
Can an another expert please explain?
I am always looking to receive Skype calls on my SIP hardware, so that my PC can stay off. I used to use the Voxeo solution but lately the voice is onley oneway.
March 25th, 2009 at 7:48 am
Markus, Great to hear from you again. Yes, you were the inspiration for my “Skype-ifying your voice applications” blog post a year ago – http://blogs.voxeo.com/voxeotalks/2008/03/31/skype-ifying-your-voice-applications/
Before I answer your larger question, though, you should NOT be getting one-way audio with your Skype-to-SIP app running on our platform. If you are doing so, please either raise a support ticket in your account at http://evolution.voxeo.com/ or email support@voxeo.com It should work perfectly fine with two-way audio.
To receive calls from Skype users on a SIP endpoint *without* using PSTN services, I think you really have these options:
1. Use our hosted platform as you have been doing.
2. Purchase OpenSky from Gizmo (I agree with you that the documentation says *nothing* about *receiving* Skype calls on SIP, yet I know that Michael Robertson does promote this as a feature. I have yet to purchase it myself so I can’t say how that works.)
3. Sign up for the beta of “Skype For SIP” – although this connection is designed to go to a SIP-based IP-PBX / call server and is only a 1-way connection *from* Skype users.
4. Sign up for the beta of “Skype For Asterisk” – this will get you two-way connectivity to/from Skype, but does require that you are running Asterisk yourself.
Those are the ways I know of to get Skype calls on a SIP endpoint. There may be other services out there as well, but these are the ones I know of.
Thanks for the comment – and PLEASE do raise a support ticket to get your Skype-to-SIP connection on our platform looked at, Dan