For those who want the phone number to ring to a cell phone, landline, SIP phone, instant messenger or even Skype, there is another option to consider. The DIDXchange (News - Alert) (News - Alert) offers wholesale IP communications –related solutions that include ring-to Skype.

The organization's DIDXchange is a type of clearinghouse or brokerage where telecommunications service providers from all over the world make phone numbers available for sale. The DIDXchange services include billing, codec conversion or ring-to options of IAX2, SIP or Skype. The remaining wholesale service providers on the exchange buy the phone numbers numbers and resell to their end-users who have the option to make the phone numbers ring-to Skype, as well SIP or even PSTN if they have agreements with third parties. The latest feature from the DIDXchange is this ring-to Skype feature, offered for free to DIDXchange members.

The DIDX Care Team was asked about turnaround for activation of a new wholesale DIDX account and the response was interesting one. Apparently, the announcement of the availability of the ring-to feature has greatly increased new sign-ups, while current DIDX members are also taking advantage of the new feature – lengthening the amount of time it will take to get new activations totally running.

The good news is that even with higher demand, turnaround time is still reasonable and does rely on the customer’s technical setup, knowledge, experience, technical team, completing the interop testing and agreement to terms. Overall, turn-around time appears to be 1-7 business days, depending upon these factors.

So, why did Super Technologies (News - Alert) (News - Alert) worry about a ring-to feature? “Our aim as the developer team at Super Technologies, Inc. and in this case for our DIDX solution is to enable our wholesale customers to capture more of the global market and serve as many of their users’ IP communications needs as possible. Adding the Skype module to IP communications-related solutions and services for origination (direct inward dialing or in every day language for incoming calls) changes everything,” said Muneeb Iqbal, Sales Executive at Super Technologies, Inc. and DIDXchange, in a statement.

“Now, scores of end-users who use Skype will be able to easily buy phone numbers from 70 or more nations and 10s of 1000s of cities worldwide, not currently available on the Skype service itself. Our advice to individuals and organizations who want to use this new empowering tool, should ask their service provider if they are an active member of DIDX.net, to take advantage.”

Industry expert Carolyn Schuk noted that the ring-to feature makes sense in an environment where the focus is unified communications and fixed/mobile convergence as it is a logical extension to SkypeIn and SkypeOut. As more and more people use Skype, they will expect it to work like a standard telephone, meaning they will demand a Skype number to perform just as they use a conventional phone number.

In short, the demand is there and growing, creating substantial opportunities for DIDX members, as well as the exchange itself as it aims to reach more players and expand its presence in a global market.