IT EXPO — Digium Inc. and Skype Inc. announced Tuesday the general availability of Skype for Asterisk, Digium’s open-source business telephony software.

Skype for Asterisk enables users of Asterisk-based systems access to Skype’s low-cost calling to landlines and mobile phones, and free calling to more than 400 million registered Skype users around the world.

Skype for Asterisk is compatible with the free and open source Asterisk versions 1.4, 1.6 and AsteriskNOW, as well as the commercially licensed Asterisk Business Edition.

Skype for Asterisk allows businesses to access Skype users over the Internet, natively encrypts all voice calls and lets companies manage their Skype user accounts via Skype’s Web-based Business Control Panel.

Businesses already using an Asterisk-based phone system can add Skype by downloading Skype for Asterisk, without additional hardware. Existing Skype users can benefit from the advanced call features of Asterisk, including call transfer, interactive voice response, automated call distribution, flexible call-routing and more.

“The combination of Skype and Asterisk gives those companies that have relied on Skype the advanced call management capabilities of Asterisk, while Asterisk users get free calling to more than 400 million registered Skype users and low Skype rates when calling landlines and mobiles,” said Stefan Öberg, vice president and general manager of Skype for Business. “We believe the product will bring together two of the largest groups of users that value flexibility and cost savings in their PBX systems.”

Digium has been using Skype for Asterisk for the past few months while the product has been in development. Digium CEO Danny Windham said the company created Skype accounts such as Digium Sales and Digium Support. “Now, our customers all over the world can call us for free using Skype and our Asterisk PBX processes the inbound call just like it would a normal call,” Windham said. “This is going to save Digium and our customers a lot of money.”

Skype for Asterisk is available to download now for $66 per concurrent call from http://www.digium.com/skype or from Digium Authorized Resellers and Distributors worldwide. Skype for Asterisk comes with 90 days of installation support from the time of purchase.