Hansa World CRM have “created customized avatars that run on the desktop,” according to Skype.

When Skype held a Partner and Developer Day in Japan as part of an event in Fall 2005, “We had nearly 2000 attendees,” says Skype’s Klein. “We also launched recently a voice services platform, working with three of the best Interactive Voice Response [IVR] platforms, TellMe, Voxio and VoxPilot, enabling us to work with any third-party content providers who want to enable through Skype such voice apps as voice-driven hotel reservations, stock quotes, translations, and horoscopes. And we recently announced the development of a digital goods marketplace, giving people the ability through Skype to sell things like ringtones and avatars to Skype users; real sounding audio.”

For dealers, Skype can act as a focal feature to drive sales. “We’ve engaged with Skype in multiple regions of the world, we have an agreement to load and bundle their software,” says Dave Brown, SVP of Advanced Wireless Services at

Brightpoint Inc. ( http://brightpoint.com), a wireless-centric
distributor and service provider, with partners of major hand-
sets, phones, and other gear, “We’re building a portfolio of
products, working with manufacturers, for existing channels
like retailers and independent agents, and new channels like customers... and service providers feel that they’re missing
WiFi hotspots.” (Brightpoint also partners with other VoIP the chance to earn money carrying these phone calls.
companies such as Vonage.) How Skype routes calls–which isn’t up to users–is also
a concern, not just because it’s using “other people’s band-
width” but also because Skype isn’t necessarily picking the

On the Opposing Side shortest, most cost-effective route.

Not everybody feels Skype is the right answer, for a variety In a recent test where Skype called from one subnet to of reasons. another, “Our trace results show that Skype’s routing algo-

Security is a big one. There’s the lack of information about rithm doesn’t always pick the best path,” reports Kevin Tolly, president & CEO, The Tolly Group. For example, “In this experimental conversation and others, we saw local calls being routed via the UK, South America... who knows how many other backbones are being traversed, which weren’t intended as being used by Skype. So sometimes bandwidth is being wasted.”

Responses to Skype include Skype monitors/blockers, an alternative offering which will possibly be not as inexpensive, and offer more insight and control.

Verso Technologies ( www.verso.com), for example, says its NetSpective M-Class filter can block Skype VoIP calls as well as other peer-to-peer applications. Verso began researching how to detect and block Skype traffic in late 2004. In addition to the bandwidth-sharing authorized by the user agreement, the nature of the Skype protocol is a concern, says Verso’s John O’Reilly. “They advertise it as ‘unblockable.’ The protocol is very sophisticated, designed to penetrate firewalls, and penetrate NAT; it’s designed to make connections. That means it doesn’t play well with corporate environments.” And since Skype packets are encrypted, “it’s very difficult to even monitor or track what’s going on in the protocol.” End-to-end encryption also means that Skype traffic can’t readily be monitored–which, in can cause a problem in the

what happens inside Skype, and Skype traffic can slip right US, where regulations like CALEA exist (See “Regulatory through firewalls and NAT (Network Address Translation). Compliance & VoIP: More government rules on the way” in While there’s no evidence to suggest there’s a danger, Skype our July 2005 issue). And since Skype can also carry chat and could easily be the avenue for a major Internet-carried exploit. streaming media, that makes it a potential carrier for traffic

Bandwidth usage is another concern; carriers and service that’s illegal in the US (e.g. child pornography). providers feel that their bits are used by people who aren’t “Most VoIP products use a recognizable protocol that a sniff-