Skype overhauls calling plans

Skype has extended its pre-paid voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) packages to landlines and mobile phones in 170 countries, reports IT News.

The subscription offerings replace Skype's previous unlimited plans; which were rolled out in 34 countries in April 2008.

According to Skype's Asia-Pacific vice-president and general manager, Dan Neary, the latest monthly subscriptions would save customers 60% off the standard pay-as-you-go rates.

VMware subsidiary SpringSource is planning to acquire GemStone Systems, a specialist in Java, data management, memory caching and VOIP, states CRN.

GemStone president Richard Lamb says: "There are distributed applications, such as VOIP and disaster recovery, and there are distributed deployment environments, such as SpringSource's TC Server on VMware, and now SpringSource is forging ahead with the infrastructure needed for distributed data."

SpringSource claims the purchase will help it to develop the infrastructure for cloud applications, and enable built-in availability, scalability, security and performance enhancements.

The number of businesses making use of mobile VOIP services will increase significantly over the next five years, says Maintel.

ABI Research's latest findings have revealed that up to 487 million mobile phone users will have access to high-definition (HD) handsets by 2015.

The study suggests that the industry will first see growth in HD VOIP services in 2013, before expanding significantly through 2014, as cost becomes a major driver.