Thinking about setting an appointment for the group; Skype makes it easy to check online; potentially reducing time and adding productivity. By adding Skype, now voice services are integrated so instant conference calls or mulit-chats can help with what were once logistical nightmares. Airset is also demonstrating what "mashups" are all about. If you look deeper they are also hooking into Google Maps and tying mapping information to contact details. Thus uploading your contacts means you now have a map at a click for everyone.

A point worth remembering is you can manage your groups, (eg a groups calendar) and never ever have any of your contacts join up and be Airset members. AirSet will still send them messages and reminders. For those wanting to augment email reminders with mobile updates then Arena has a premium service which I'm sure is going to evolve to add a lot more. Updates are sent by email and SMS is ready to integrate with your mobile phone. Overall it synched quickly and easily with my Outlook contacts and calendar system. I even feel happier that I now have a backup for that part of my life!

There are other Skype related groupware products in the works. However, this is a strong signal (even late!) that companies providing other core services (eg an accounting package) should be racing to add VoIP functionality to their solutions. Another thing to keep in mind. Airena like others should be complemented for testing and moving forward with Skype and Google Maps API integrations. However, soon we are going to see IM agnostic solutions. Airset could just as easily cross connect different IM systems or turn their learnings to Google Talk or Gizmo.

So whats your Calendar solution? Does it integrate with Skype? Can you access it anywhere?