ssokol March 26th, 2009

With Skype’s recent announcement of Skype For SIP there has been a great deal of pontification on the impending death of the not-yet-released Skype For Asterisk.  I’d like to take a moment to explain why Skype For SIP (SFS) does not spell the end for Skype For Asterisk (SFA), and why Skype For Asterisk is still in beta.

First, the key differences between Skype For SIP and Skype For Asterisk:

• SFA can handle incoming Skype calls directly from any user on the Skype network.  SFS can receive incoming calls from Skype users names that are statically mapped to a Skype name to a SIP account.
• SFA can place calls to any user on the Skype network.  SFS cannot place calls to Skype users.
• SFA includes support for Skype presence information.  SFS has no support for presence.
• SFA includes buddy list management.  SFS has no buddy list management features.
• SFA calls are encrypted from end-to-end while SFS calls are delivered to the SFS endpoint devices (PBX) as unencrypted RTP streams.
• SFA supports multiple media codecs including G.711 aLaw and uLaw as well as G.729.  Wide-band audio will be available in a near-term revision.  SFS supports only compressed telephony-grade G.729 media streams.

Ultimately, the key differentiator is that SFA is designed to allow developers to build rich applications that are deeply integrated with the Skype network, while the SFS offering is a trunking solution for legacy IP-PBX systems that support SIP.  Both have their place and neither is specifically competitive with the other.  Both Digium and Skype are dedicated to Skype For Asterisk and both are working hard to make sure that when released it exceeds expectations.

So now, on to the question of why Skype For Asterisk is taking so long.   There’s a lot of technology that goes into Skype and a lot of technology that goes into Asterisk, and the underpinnings of these technologies are really, really different – which has caused some portion of the delay.  Not that this is an excuse.  We’re all professionals here and after all, it’s only software.  You can make a toaster talk to a space shuttle given enough time, effort and talent.  So if you can’t excuse the technological complexities then just take a gander at the business issues.

Skype has spent the past five years becoming the leading global peer-to-peer consumer VoIP service and now they’re poised to do the same in the business realm.  However, the launch of commercial offerings like SFA and SFS take Skype into new territory and require some significant thought and effort.  Skype’s consumer model is based on service agreements between Skype and individual users.  This doesn’t work for business customers.  Take for example Skype names.  In the consumer world, the relationship is simple — each Skype user has a name that they select.  Those users can then add services like SkypeIn numbers and SkypeOut credits.  In the business world the model isn’t so simple.

Imagine, for example, if a fictitious insurance and financial services company — call them AGI — hired Bob as a salesman.  Then imagine that Bob personally registers ‘BadBob’ as his Skype name.   Bob starts using his Skype name to let clients call him for free over the Skype network, saving AGI the toll-free charges.  Sounds good, right?  But what happens when Bob quits and goes to work for AGI’s biggest competitor?  Suddenly there’s a world of AGI customers who are calling Bob using his personal account at his new job, and there’s nothing that his former employer can do.  Ouch.

Enter the Skype Business Control Panel (BCP).  Skype’s Skype For Business division has launched an all-out effort to make business customers a corporate priority. Currently the BCP is simply a way to aggregate and share Skype credit.  As business services like SFA and SFS are rolled out it will take on a much more prominent role as the administrative interface for commercial customers.

The next update to the BCP will allow business customers to create master accounts that are owned and managed by companies rather than individuals.  With the BCP, Bob’s account would have belonged to AGI rather than to Bob, much like his AGI email account and company credit card.  If Bob went in search of greener pastures the system administrator could simply redirect his calls to another sales guy.

So thus the delay.  Skype and Digium have both taken a very hard look at the Skype For Asterisk model and have agreed to take the time to make it work for businesses.  This has been by far the biggest delay.  And for whatever its worth, the same delay applies to Skype For SIP.  So before you decide to declare Skype For Asterisk DOA, take a minute and consider that we’re both trying to do something new, powerful and thus-far untried in the world of business communications.  We’ll have something out just as soon as we can.  (And not a minute sooner.)

Update 3/27: Chris Moore from Skype’s Skype For Business unit emailed me to correct a misunderstanding regarding processing of incoming calls from SkypeIn and from Skype users.  I’ve updated this post to reflect Chris’s comments.  -S

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