Skype is a peer-to-peer Internet telephony service that is free for Skype-to-Skype calls. The service also allows Skype users to call mobiles and landlines, and vice-versa. Skype has special charge plans for non-Skype-to-Skype calls. Skype is expanding from its traditional computer-based calls to mobile applications.

Skype was written by Estonia-based developers Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu and Jaan Tallinn, who had also originally developed Kazaa. The Skype Group was founded by Swedish-born entrepreneur Niklas Zennström and the Dane Janus Friis, who were also the founders of the file sharing application Kazaa and the peer-to-peer television application Joost. One of the initial names for the project was "Sky peer-to-peer", which was then abbreviated to "Skyper". Dropping the final "r" left the current title "Skype", for which domain names were available. Skype is different than other VoIP services in that it uses a peer-to-peer model instead of a server-client model. Its main competitors include GizmoProject, PeerMe and Jajah.

It’s owned by an investor group led by Silver Lake and which includes eBay Inc, Joltid Limited and Skype founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Andreessen Horowitz. Responsible for 8% of global international calling minutes, and with its users making 3.1 billion minutes of calls to landlines and mobiles in the third quarter of 2009, Skype is a leading global internet communications company – with Skype-to-Skype voice and video calls are completely free. In the third quarter of 2009, Skype users made 27.7 billion minutes of Skype-to-Skype calls, and over a third of these were video calls.

Skype has experienced rapid growth in popular usage since the launch of its services. Skype’s buzzing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, worldwide. At peak times, there are up to 20 million people online. What’s most important, however, is what Skype can do. Voice and video calling, IM and SMS are now available on a wide range of operating systems and mobile devices. They connect business colleagues, saving them time and money while allowing them to stay ahead of the competition; they also help keep friends and families together, wherever they are in the world.

Author: SABINA TAGORE IMMANUEL