Skype makes video calling easy

Skype, the popular free VOIP unit of eBay, has released a revamped platform that makes it easier for the service's 309 million users to make video calls from their computers, states eWeek.com.

The new Skype 4.0 Beta for Windows aims to leverage the fact that 28% of Skype calls were video calls in the first quarter of 2008.

That's the biggest change and it is a winner at a time when users are increasingly using the Web as a preferred means of communication with friends, colleagues and business partners.

Savatar has rolled out 2008 SME market research statistics on VOIP but a lack of hype in the industry leads Processor.com to conclude that, for VOIP, no news is good news, says FierceVOIP.

Almost all business VOIP customers with 100 or more employees would recommend VOIP to their peers, says Savatar. Of the same group, 57% say VOIP service exceeds the reliability of their prior service, while 77% say the cost of VOIP service is better than what they paid for previously.

VOIP-selling CEOs say they have exhausted the early adopter pool and now need to go mainstream; early adopters take VOIP for granted while the majority of non-buyers don't realise that they need it. SMEs don't realise that VOIP can bring cost savings, plus ease of use and management; and there's also a big investment in legacy technology still on the books for some companies.

According to FierceVOIP, solution providers in the networking market are staking a claim in the VOIP space, with more than 40% of recently surveyed providers saying they currently sell VOIP/UC products, with almost another 13% planning to sell them in the near future. VOIP is also named the fastest growing network technology in the survey.

The survey, conducted by Channel Web, reveals that VOIP is one of the most profitable technology practices out there for VARs, second only to network management. Experience and scale count for a lot in winning business.

VOIP adoption is winning over customers due to lower costs and increased productivity, with UC being part of the discussion for increased productivity.