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Matthew Nickasch

Skype For Asterisk vs. Skype For SIP

By Matthew Nickasch on Wed, 03/25/09 - 3:32pm.
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After this week's announcement by Skype of their "Skype for SIP" business service, rumors speculating the longevity of the previously-released "Skype For Asterisk" product are flying about.

I had the opportunity to chat with Steve Sokol, the Project Manager of Asterisk at Digium about the key differences between the two products. Steve reassures the Asterisk and telephony communities that the Skype For Asterisk (SFA) product is unaffected by the Skype For SIP (SFS) product launch, and notes that SFA includes richly-integrated features not available in the Skype For SIP product.

When asked about the key differences about the two products, Steve notes that "Skype For Asterisk is designed to allow developers to build rich applications integrated deeply with the Skype network, while the Skype For SIP offering is a trunking solution for legacy IP-PBX systems that support SIP."

Sokol detailed some of the exciting features and differences in the Skype For Asterisk (SFA) product. These include...

•SFA can handle incoming Skype calls from any user on the Skype network. SFS can receive incoming calls from Skype users only by statically mapping 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 supports incoming calls directly from SkypeIn DID numbers. SFS does not.

•SFA supports multiple media codecs including G.711 aLaw and uLaw as well as G.729. Wideband audio will be available in a near-term revision. SFS supports only compressed telephony-grade G.729 media streams.

Skype's integration and development with Asterisk, and other SIP platforms have yielded two unique products. Asterisk users can rest assured knowing that the rumors surrounding the "death of Skype For Asterisk" after the Skype For SIP product announcement are false.

For more information on Skype For Asterisk, see the original Digium and Skype press release.

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About Considering Convergence
Matthew Nickasch is an independent consultant and analyst in the IP communication and convergence fields. His current and previous consulting experience includes systems architecture, virtualization, telecommunications, and converged networks for the financial, education, and healthcare industries. In addition to his consulting responsibilities, he has been active in the research realm, recently publishing and presenting on topics including routing protocol security and ERP and transactional database auditing. While his interests include directory services and corporate compliance, Nickasch's focus is on converged networks and IP communications.
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