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Skype covers consumer, enterprise partner bases

Skype is on a partnership tear as it has inked a broad partnership with Avaya on the business side and reportedly has an integration deal with Facebook in the works.
Written by Larry Dignan, Contributor

Skype is on a partnership tear as it has inked a broad partnership with Avaya on the business side and reportedly has an integration deal with Facebook in the works.

BoomTown's Kara Swisher reported that Skype is eyeing an integration deal with Facebook. In a nutshell, the Facebook-Skype deal will integrate messaging, voice chat and Facebook Connect. With that partnership, Skype will have its consumer bases covered--even though you can argue that Facebook needs Skype’s communication tools more.

But from a bottom line perspective, Skype's partnership with Avaya is more important. Remember that Skype's future profit growth rests on the business side of the house. Skype has forged partnerships with ShoreTel and others to broaden its ties. Skype has also expanded its channel distribution.

In its IPO filing, Skype said its enterprise business will be critical to its future growth. Skype said, "We believe the business communications market represents a large opportunity for Skype. Approximately 37 percent of over 40,000 of our connected users surveyed in the first quarter of 2010 told us that they use our product platform occasionally or often for business-related purposes."

Read more of "Skype covers consumer, enterprise partner bases" at ZDNet.

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