Companies Package Flexible and Inexpensive Voice Calling with Broadband Access and Security
May 12, 2005
BLUE BELL, Pa. and Luxembourg – May 11, 2005 – Fiberlink Communications Corp. has partnered with Skype to advance the next stage in mobile working for enterprises worldwide. Fiberlink, a leading innovator and trusted enterprise partner for secure mobile workforce solutions, today unveiled a strategic partnership with Skype designed to make it easy for companies to offer Internet-based telephony services to their mobile workforce using Fiberlink’s secure mobile access software.
Skype’s VoIP-category technology differs from traditional phone systems in several significant ways. Calls between employees, customers and partners are inexpensive, offer superior voice quality and allow workers to take their office phone number, voicemail and contact list wherever they travel – hotel rooms, airports and partner or customer sites. This partnership allows Fiberlink to offer the industry’s most comprehensive combination of integrated mobile computing, Internet-based telephony and security to help workers maintain productivity anywhere in the world.
Fiberlink plans to bundle Skype’s telephony with Fiberlink’s Extend360™ mobile access software and offer it as a value-added service to its enterprise customers. In addition to this new service offering, Extend360 will ensure higher levels of security during Skype peer-to-peer transactions, protecting against security threats.
“Skype is gaining enormous traction in the workplace; CSO Magazine reports in its March issue that Skype is a great way to communicate. IT professionals are striving to ensure their mobile workers remain productive without compromising the security of their networks,” stated William Wagner, chief marketing officer of Fiberlink. “IT professionals and others in the industry are concerned about the security implications of using applications like IM and Skype. Extend360 reduces those concerns and puts control back in the hands of IT. Fiberlink also offers broadband and wireless access options for mobile professionals who are using Skype to stay productive.”
“Fiberlink offers trusted and secure mobile solutions for enterprise users seeking access to network-based resources anywhere in the world,” stated Skype’s Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Niklas Zennström. “We’re pleased to implement this partnership to reduce costs and improve quality mobility and productivity for users to effectively use the Internet to communicate. We are aware that many of our customers use Skype for business purposes and we will advance this growing trend through strategic relationships like our partnership with Fiberlink.”
Skype recently announced its 100 millionth download of software and has now enabled more than 8.1 billion high-quality minutes of talk time for Skype users worldwide. Skype has also announced its beta testing of two new premium services - SkypeIn for receiving inbound calls from traditional phones and Skype Voicemail, which enables user to manage incoming voicemail messages. These premium services complement SkypeOut global calling to ordinary phone lines for local rates, and comprise a rich and cost-effective communications tool for business travelers.
Wagner continued, “I used Skype recently while traveling in Europe on business and was
incredibly impressed by the quality of my calls. Skype, used in conjunction with Fiberlink’s
Extend360, will impact the way people communicate in the future and will enable greater
productivity.”
Skype, the Global Internet Telephony Company™, allows people everywhere to make free,
unlimited, superior quality voice calls via its award-winning innovative peer-to-peer software for
Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and Pocket PC platforms. Skype is available in 22 languages and is the
fastest growing voice communications offering worldwide. Since its launch in August 2003, Skype has
been downloaded more than 100 million times. Skype Technologies S.A. is headquartered in Luxembourg
and is growing its offices in London and Tallinn. Skype Technologies is privately held and backed
by top tier international venture capital firms, including Bessemer Venture Partners, Draper Fisher
Jurvetson, Index Ventures, and Mangrove Capital Partners.
www.skype.com
Fiberlink provides the software and services that enable enterprises to securely mobilize their workforces and strike the best balance of user productivity and IT control. More than 800,000 mobile workers have relied on Fiberlink’s ubiquitous Wi-Fi, wide-area wireless, broadband and/or dial-up solutions for “no-hassle” access to e-mail, data and other network-based resources. Fiberlink’s mobile workforce solutions go beyond basic network connectivity to ensure IT organizations have total control over the myriad security threats, compliance policies and cost concerns that are often associated with mobile computing. Gartner, Yankee Group and Burton Group consistently recognize Fiberlink as an innovative leader in mobile and remote access solutions. Fiberlink customers include Continental Airlines, Grant Thornton and Targus Group International. Headquartered in Blue Bell, Pa., Fiberlink has offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Additional information about Fiberlink is available at www.fiberlink.com.
Fiberlink Communications Corp.
Susan Sutton
Skype Name: spsutton2004
ssutton@fiberlink.com
Tel: +1 215 664 1753
Skype
Kat James
Skype Name: katjames
kat.james@skype.net
Tel: +44 1273 728331
Kelly Larabee
Skype Name: kellylarabee
kelly.larabee@skype.net
Tel: +1 602 258 1416
© 2005 Fiberlink and the Fiberlink logo are trademarks of Fiberlink and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. All other brand names are trademarks of their respective partners.
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