Skype announces a Citrix deal

VOICE OVER IP OUTFIT Skype has announced an alliance with the virtual computing company Citrix.

Skype said that it will mean that it will be able to use web and audio conferencing capabilities enabled with Gotomeeting technology from Citrix.

This will help expand Skype's business offerings by providing collaboration features for businesses of all sizes to set up and hold meetings. Citrix's Gotomeeting product will appear on Skype's web conferencing and VoIP services towards the end of the year.

These web-based conferencing features are expected to supplement the Skype for Business desktop product that gives Skype users instant messaging, voice and video calling, group video calling, conferencing, and file sharing.

The Gotomeeting capability means Skype's business users will be able to set up online audio conferencing meetings that users can join via Skype or through public switched telephone network (PSTN) phone calls.

The conferencing services will use Skype's Silk audio codec, which means Skype users can get better audio quality.

There's no word on pricing yet. µ