Grandstream receives Skype for SIP Interoperability Certification

Businesses can save money by using Skype on Grandstream's IP PBX and gateways

Grandstream Networks, the leading manufacturer of IP voice/video telephony and video surveillance solutions, and Skype announced that Skype for SIP interoperability testing and certification of Grandstream's IP PBX and gateway has been completed successfully. With this interoperability, the thousands of small to medium businesses (SMBs) using Grandstream's GXE502x series IP PBX and related gateways can start to reap significant cost savings by directing their outbound calls to mobile phones and landlines worldwide via Skype at very competitive rates. SMBs can also allow their customers and remote employees to make free inbound calls to their corporate PBX system using Skype from anywhere in the world.

"By certifying its PBX and gateway equipment as interoperable with Skype for SIP, Grandstream is enabling its thousands of business customers to easily connect their existing PBXs and gateways to Skype and to receive the same financial and productivity benefits that businesses already get when using Skype software on their desktops," said David Gurle, VP and General Manager of Skype for Business. "Having a premier partner like Grandstream join the Skype for SIP interoperability programme demonstrates the value of the Skype for SIP offering and we are encouraged by what this means for the many businesses that can now save time, money and stay ahead of the competition by using Skype."

Skype calls received through the Grandstream IP PBX are handled by the PBX in the same way as other inbound calls

Interoperability with Skype for SIP gives SMBs the ability to receive inbound calls through their Grandstream GXE IP PBX or related gateways from more than 521 million registered Skype users around the world at no additional cost to the Skype user when calling through Skype. Businesses can leverage the investment in their corporate website even further by enabling Skype users to simply click on a global click-to-call button on the website to place immediate calls to sales or support via Skype. Skype calls received through the Grandstream IP PBX are handled by the PBX in the same way as other inbound calls. For outbound calling, Grandstream customers can realise significant cost savings to landlines and mobile phones around the world using Skype's low-cost calling rates.

"Grandstream strives to deliver innovative and affordable solutions to SMBs and enterprises that are easy to deploy, simple to support and provide immediate and significant value-add," said David Li, CEO of Grandstream Networks. "Achieving interoperability with Skype for SIP gives Grandstream's customers another powerful tool for improving their communications, accelerating business growth and reducing calling expenditures by leveraging Skype's vast user base worldwide. We are excited about our partnership with Skype and will support Skype on a range of products in the future."

Grandstream's customer premise equipment (CPE) meets the evolving needs of growing businesses by combining unified voice, video, fax and data in an all-in-one, easy to manage appliance. Designed to support distributed IP communications, intelligent unified messaging, advanced multimedia application integration and popular PBX features, Grandstream's GXE502x IP PBX brings voice and video communications to a new level of innovation, ease-of-use, and functionality integration. Interoperability with Skype for SIP will allow SMBs and enterprises to reap tremendous productivity gains and cost savings with the GXE502x IP PBX and a host of other Grandstream SIP-based products including gateways, IP phones, video surveillance cameras and IP multimedia phones, including the GXV3140 multimedia phone.

For more information on Skype for SIP and to sign up for the Skype for SIP open beta, please click here.