Luxembourg 24 August 2005 — Skype, the pioneering Global Internet Communications Company, which offers free high-quality phone calls to anyone with an Internet connection, is preparing to mark its second anniversary next week by opening up its platform to anyone who wants to integrate Skype’s presence and instant messaging services into their website or application. By opening up Skype’s platform to the web, it will now be simple for anyone to connect to Skype’s fast growing member base, which has already passed more than 51 million people in just 2 years.

While Luxembourg-based Skypes closed-source software currently holds a huge lead in peer-to-peer VoIP, enthusiastic backers of the open source SIP protocol believe that an under-development peer-to-peer SIP approach is poised to catch up with Skype and even surpass it.

Networking gear maker 3Com wants to hook telecommuters into the Internet phone systems they use when in the office. The IP Telecommuting module, announced Monday, is designed to let remote workers access corporate VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) applications, including conference calls and messages. Employees can make calls through the IP telephony system from places such as broadband-enabled airports and hotels, as well as their homes. And incoming calls into office phones can be redirected to a mobile phone or a hotel room, the company said.

INTERNET telephony is tipped to rise sharply this year and follow up with strong growth next year and the year after, according to analyst IDC.Sales of enterprise internet telephony equipment are tipped to grow by more than 70 per cent this year and service revenue is expected to rise by 73 per cent, it says.

Jordan Telecom has become the first national telco in the region to offer end users a full, commercial voice over IP (VoIP) service.

The Lines and IP Bandwidth Calculator can be used to estimate the bandwidth required through an IP based network for a fixed number of voice paths.

Enhance your Skype audio experience with a headset from Plantronics. Choose from a range of PC soundcard or USB models with noise cancelling microphones that deliver the audio quality you need whenever you Skype.

Plug into your computer’s USB port and use Skype with the CyberPhone K just as you would a normal telephone. Dial SkypeOut numbers from the phone, and assign quick keys to your Skype contacts on Windows (only sound functionality on Mac OS X).

Move up to 300 meters away from your PC and make Skype and SkypeOut calls. See who’s online with one push of a button on the handset. It’s a cordless Skype phone and ordinary landline phone in one. Now available in 27 countries.

Verizon Wireless and Lucent Technologies have become the first in the industry to make live, over-the-air calls using CDMA2000® 1xEV-DO Revision A technology.