Actiontec Electronics announced the availability of VoSKY Exchange 9040 and 9080, new versions of its Skype PBX gateway for small and mid-sized businesses. The new stackable, rackmountable devices add four or eight outgoing Skype lines to the office PBX, allowing users to make and receive free and low-cost long-distance and international phone calls over the world's largest Voice over Internet Protocol network. A software upgrade also simplifies management and reporting.

VoSKY Exchange is the first Skype-certified solution that enables businesses of 10 to 300 employees to take full advantage of Skype's VoIP service. The product requires no changes to existing PBX equipment, phones or user PCs; can be installed in two hours; and allows users to make and receive Skype calls on their regular office phones instead of using a PC and headset.

The ability to integrate the Skype service into the existing PBX system, combined with the low one-time cost of VoSKY Exchange, delivers substantial savings for organizations with multiple locations, remote workers, and/or customers, partners and suppliers in other cities. Skype has no signup or monthly access fees, offers free calls between Skype users, and charges as little as 2 cents per minute for calls to non-Skype users - even for calls to overseas destinations. VoSKY Exchange can pay for itself in as little as four months.

New feature s in VoSKY Exchange 9040 and 9080 include:

• A stackable, rack-mountable form factor, enabling easy housing in the server rack.
• An eight-port option, allowing larger organizations to add eight outgoing Skype lines with a single gateway instead of deploying two four-port units.
• Easier connectivity, enabling a single USB port on a Windows PC to support four outgoing Skype lines rather than requiring one USB port per line.

New software features, included with Exchange 9040 and 9080 and also available as a firmware upgrade to owners of the first-generation VoSKY Exchange 9000, include:

• Call log statistics and associated reporting capabilities, including date, duration, geographical destination, and Skype or non-Skype phone number. The system can also be configured to require end users to input a special ID number for reporting purposes.
• Control of all Skype lines from a single screen, allowing administrators to determine line status and related information without opening separate windows for each line.
• Remote management, enabling a single network administrator to add or remove users, adjust settings and troubleshoot VoSKY Exchange devices in multiple offices.
• Easy export of employees' Skype speed dialing codes to removable media, simplifying setup of VoSKY Exchange in multiple offices and also providing backup/restore capabilities in the event of a system crash.

"For most businesses, the barrier to using VoIP in general and Skype in particular has been an inability to connect to the office PBX. This has caused complications ranging from the need for inbound Skype callers to have a different Skype number for each employee to difficulty in tracking all Skype-related spending in a company," said Michael Ehlenberger, Actiontec's Vice President, North America Channel Sales. "As the first and only product to solve these problems, VoSKY Exchange enables businesses to reap the full financial benefits of VoIP without ch anging their entire telephone infrastructure." The new VoSKY Exchange products are being demonstrated in Booth 634 at the Internet Telephony Conference that opens today in San Diego.

Specifications and Availability ?Minimum system requirements for VoSKY Exchange include a PBX with up to four free FXO ports and auto attendant capability; a 2.8 GHz Pentium IV PC running Windows XP with 512 MB RAM, 400 MB free hard disk space, a CD-ROM drive and one or two available USB ports; a broadband Internet connection; and Skype's Internet calling service, which is available as a free download at www.skype.com. The product is available exclusively through VoSKY partners. For more information, visit www.vosky.com or call Actiontec Electronics at 1-866-341-3285.