Skype opens up for asterisk

Today Skype and Digium announced a partnership that would allow skype to be integrated with asterisk platform via a channel driver. This sounds like an interesting collaboration. It’s definitely Good news to all those asterisk developers and corporate folks that use asterisk platform as PBX. What this brings to the table is an interaction of 338 million skype users with millions of asterisk users. The not so good news is that the channel driver is not open source. It comes with a cost. According to sources, the licensing shall be done per channel basis.

Picture courtesy, fiercevoip














Here is what users of asterisk get:

• Make, receive and transfer Skype calls with multiple Skype names from within Asterisk phone systems, using existing hardware.
• Complement existing Asterisk services with low Skype global rates (as low as 1.7€¢ / 2.1US¢ per minute to more than 35 countries worldwide).
• Save money on inbound calling solutions such as free click-to-call from a website, as well as receive inbound calling from the PSTN through create virtual offices all over world using Skype’s online numbers.
• Manage Skype calls using Asterisk applications such as call routing, conferencing, phone menus and voicemail.

Skype integration is not something completely new to asterisk developers. There were other workarounds that allowed some kind of integration with skype earlier. For e.g. using ChanSkype , asterisk users were able to call skype users online, Receive up to 30 incoming Skype Calls, Bridge with SIP channels etc. However, today’s announcement has more significance, because it’s coming directly from skype, and hope this is beginning of skype opening up! Asterisk already supports different VoIP protocols like SIP,H.232,MGCP,SCCP etc. Skype protocol will be a new addition to the list.

I’m interesting in knowing how much did skype open up to digium for this integration. The platform is open for beta. If you’re an Asterisk user or developer, you can apply for a beta at Skype Asterisk Beta . The initial beta is limited to a select number of users, developers and integrators