The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
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That Skype is setting its sights beyond the SMB is obvious. Read the Security and Exchange Commission S1 filing Skype just issued: “We believe there is a significant opportunity to better serve the communications needs of the small and medium enterprise segment, as well as larger enterprise customers.” In truth, tackling the enterprise will be an uphill battle for Skype. If you’re like most IT managers, anything that smacks of P2P file transfer is something that you want out of your corporate networks. P2P file transfer programs are widely seen as leading causes of malware distribution, so there’s a natural resistance to Skype, particularly with a distributed architecture that’s radically different from the classical PBX and IP-PBX architectures. Notions of uptime metrics, scaling, etc. must evolve in a network where there is no single switching complex or gateway. Skype is still seen as a major security risk by most managers. When I helped develop the new release of the Skype Administrator’s Guide, I was fortunate to spend quite a bit of time working with the engineers behind Skype for Business. It was clear to me then that they understand these perceptions, and the potential security risks implicit in deploying Skype, the risks of malware distribution, eavesdropping and intercepted calls and more. They had thought through those issues and built in the necessary measures to secure Skype. On a broader level, Skype has developed a new suite of business-focused products. Skype created a centralized management overlay to the Skype network, re-branding the Business Control Panel as Skype Manager. The software console allows businesses to create Skype accounts, purchase paid products and manage and pay for the use of Skype products by their employees. Skype also added ways of tying into existing telephony infrastructure. Businesses can connect PBXs to Skype through Skype trunks with Skype Connect (or what’s been referred to as Skype for SIP). Skype Connect has over 2,400 active global customers and has already been certified by Avaya, Cisco, SIPfoundry and ShoreTel, among others, as interoperable with their products. Skype for Asterisk allows for Skype integration into the Asterisk environments. At the same time, Skype is building out the necessary support services for delivering enterprise-grade services. Sales teams have been improved and there’s talk about paid, 24X7 support. So should you consider Skype for your business? Certainly, if you’re considering a new deployment, but even in existing deployments Skype has lots going for it. Keep in mind, however, that while Skype has gone to great lengths to improve the availability of its network and to make it easier to diagnose problems with the client, all softphone quality remains unpredictable and highly susceptible to the processes running in the client and network traffic conditions. Skype already has consumer-grade telephones that can utilize its network. It should consider providing the same for business- grade telephones. Directory integration will also remain an issue. Enterprises today have their personnel and extension information already stored in a directory, such as LDAP. Tapping into those databases will make Skype significantly easier to roll out within the organization. Finally, compliance remains a problem. Right now, there are no integrated compliance mechanisms with Skype. You can’t, for example, log chats in Skype for Business in a centralized location. Similarly, calls are encrypted, which makes call logging a problem. ILTA Reprinted from Network Computing, August 17, 2010. Copyrighted 2011. UBM TechWeb, a division of United Business Media, LLC. For permission to reproduce the preceding article, contact Wright’s Media: 877-652- 5295. License # 74263-1x:0111JM. David Greenfield is the President and Founder of Strategic Technology Analytics, a global technology marketing consultancy, where he advises enterprises, equipment suppliers and service providers on emerging technologies. David has spent 20 years analyzing every area in communications and collaboration and has focused the past 10 years on real time, social software. His work has appeared in leading technology publications such as PC Magazine, Network Computing, IT Architect, Data Communications and Red Herring, and he has consulted Fortune 500 enterprises in their technology acquisitions. David is also the author of the “The Essential Guide to Optical Networks.” He can be reached at dave@stanalytics.com. SKYPE IN THE NEWS Since this article was written, Skype has been continuing to make moves to solidify their position in the communications technologies market and improve their enterprise products. The company launched a new iPhone application in December 2010 and they recently completed the acquisition of Qik, a mobile video software provider. Skype also announced a partnership with Verizon Wireless to provide deeply integrated video calling on the 4G LTE smartphones. In addition, they officially launched group video calling for the enterprise, which is a desktop application that gives enterprises the ability to turn off or configure a variety of Skype settings and allows businesses to have video calls with up to 10 participants. With 2011 just getting started, we can assume that Skype won’t be slowing down...stay tuned! ILTA Peer to Peer the quarterly magazine of ILTA 79