Aztech bets on Skype

THOSE OF YOU who still remember the early days of PC multimedia will recall that, besides the all-powerful Creative, there was another Singapore company in the sound card business - Aztech.

Well, for one reason or another, it moved away from it long ago, letting the mighty Asus now be the fitting competitor to the Sound Blaster kings.

Instead, Aztech went Skyping - their show booth was filled with pretty much complete Skype experience, with or without a PC - I guess that could be right on the money.

Start with the SCP300: at the first sight, a standard teleconferencing desk phone. But, take a look at the LCD screen and the buttons, and you'll see a list of Skype names. So, now you can teleconference on Skype and on the standard PSTN lines: the device has both Ethernet and phone jacks. Target: stingy corporates eager to save every cent by registering every employee on Skype - oh well, ALL corporates are stingy unless we talk about bosses' bonuses and stock options: ask AMD, for instance.

And to chase that employee for telecons even at home, he should have a home Skype set too. Aztech got both an USB-connected (requires PC) and a standalone PC-less Skype DECT wireless desktop phones. The latter, V500DS, finally truly can replace the standard phone - no PC boots and other waste of time to call your Skype gang.

Finally, you got to link those phones to the Net somewhere - Aztech's 200 Mbps power plug broadband unit, HL108E, could be the one. Keep in mind Singapore uses exactly the same power plugs and voltage as the UK - one thing where I fully support following Old Blighty, these plugs are just the best. And yes, it does save some money buying them here and taking one of about ten daily flights to London back then. I'm looking forward to testing such a combo, hopefully without frying myself. µ