Cisco Unified Communications 500 Series for Small Business now interoperable with Skype for SIP

The Cisco Unified Communications 500 Series for Small Business has now been certified as interoperable with Skype for SIP.

If your organisation is already running a Cisco UC500, you can save money by directing your outbound calls to mobiles and landlines via Skype, and also receive inbound calls to your SIP-enabled PBX from Skype users.

We’re on a roll with the Skype for SIP beta programme, which has already announced interoperability with ShoreTel's unified communications (UC) system, SIPfoundry's sipXecs open source enterprise IP PBX unified communications solution and Nortel's Software Communication System (SCS). This is part of our effort to ensure that small and mid-sized businesses already running an IP PBX from one of the leading manufacturers can integrate Skype for SIP into their present communications solution.

For more information on Skype for SIP and to sign up for the Skype for SIP beta, please visit our business website. There's also a short video explaining how businesses can use Skype for SIP.

Comments

Hi Peter, I think this is great news. It's not directly relevant to my own business, but I guess it's indicative of that you wish to continue to support businesses.

However, Cisco PBX's etcetera are only for quite large companies. Is Skype as a company committed to Small Businesses as well?

I have been running a small company for years and have relied exclusively on Skype both for handling telephony and for internal communication. It has been a great tool for that and I hope to continue using it indefinetely.

However, release of Skype 4.0 make it seem as if you are not very committed to business users really. Skype UI was totally revamped in what I can only guess was to make it better suited for video, but this is more or less completely irrelevant to small businesses. The big problem was that those same changes made it extremely difficult to use it simply to handle multiple chat windows and inbound phone calls. Those things are of course the very essence of what Skype is used for in a small business.

Some commentary from you guys on the future of Skype for Small Businesses will be great.

Thank you in advance. I know that you are very busy people. But some answers to that will really save my day. That will really be very nice of you. I will really appreciate that. Thank you again.

Actually, the UC500 is specifically made for small and mid-sized market. Additionally Cisco also makes a CallManager express version of its phone system for smaller businesses as well.

There is a huge push among a lot of the larger technology companies to reach out to business owners just like you and design products to fit your needs.

Thanks Josh. That sounds interesting. I will def have a look at what Cisco is offering then.

So I guess the point is that we shouldn't use Skype on the desktop, but instead use Cisco phones (or Cisco software phone?). Then only use Skype instead of actual lines.

I guess if we use this solution Skype is actually reduced to just a carrier, and at any point we find chear/better carrier (or Skype should fold) we can switch over to another line provider.

I can see why on many levels that would be an attractive option. I am still concerned about price though when it comes to Cisco. But I will look into it.

Peter, have you got any comments to this or to Skype's support for small businesses? It would be great to hear something from you!