So, why do people want their Office Phone System to connect to Skype?

#2 Well there seems to be two drivers─
1. Cost of telephony coupled with...

2. The move to doing more business internationally

A link to Skype will add four new functions to your Office Phone System. Each of the four functions will contribute to reducing costs and makes it easier to communicate globally.

1. Give customers free access to your employees by getting SkypeIn numbers where ever you do business.

2. Interconnect multiple offices with 4 to 8 toll free private lines. Your Office Phone System will let you share those lines with any phone in your office. If it wasn’t for the improved quality no one would ever know they were talking on Skype.

3. Remote employees, contractors, suppliers who use Skype get full toll free access to any user on your Office Phone System.

4. Employees without computer or who use a Thin Client get to make calls via Skype. Your IT staff will have a lot less to fear with one computer running Skype they control on your corporate network.
Adding Skype to you Office Phone System is zero-risk. You give up nothing.

The upside of all this seems enough to attract Twin Anchors to beta test the Skype 2 PBX adapters with me. Doug is Twin Anchors IT guy.

Twin Anchors offer holiday packages from their Houseboat Marina. They have a 50,000 square foot facility where they manufacture houseboats. Google Earth “Salmon Arm” and “Sicamous” and you will discover what attracts thousands of Eurolanders to holiday here in the middle of nowhere.

Doug’s on Skype. Nigel too. I am not sure but I think Nigel is the VP of Boat Shows. (Grin) He always seems to be at a boat show. This week he is in Salt Lake City. Twin Anchors have a SkypeIn number in California. They have annual bill for long distance of about $20,000.

They just started a joint-venture in Germany to market holiday packages. This partner has Skype too.
They have two\separate Office Phone System, one in the Marina and the other in Manufacturing. Twin Anchors looks like a perfect fit for connecting Skype to their PBX/Office Phone System.

Well, we will soon find out. Doug and I will be testing PBX Adapters from three different manufactures─

Spintronics CallFree

VoSky Exchange

ZipCom’s SkyPBX

HELP: We are looking for organizations that would like to beta test with us that are located in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area or in Vancouver BC. Tell us why you think you would be an interesting business to beta test the linking of Skype to your Office Phone System. E-mail bill_campbell at skypejournal.com

Tomorrow I will cover some technical aspects of these products.