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PIKA Technologies Inc. Announces Field Trials for PIKA Connect™ for Skype: Application Developers Can Integrate Skype into Business Communications
[June 08, 2006]

PIKA Technologies Inc. Announces Field Trials for PIKA Connect™ for Skype: Application Developers Can Integrate Skype into Business Communications


Ottawa, Canada - June 8, 2006- Today PIKA Technologies announced that PIKA Connect for Skype, a set of software components for application developers which allow them to build business communications solutions that interface with Skype, is running in limited field trials and being demonstrated at eBay Live from June 13 to 15.



“Recognizing the importance of Internet communications services such as Skype in the business world, we have undertaken the process to deliver connectivity to this world from within PIKA’s SDK. The first step of this is PIKA Connect for Skype,” stated Doug Petty, Vice President of Technology and Operations.

PIKA offers both server side and client side components in PIKA Connect for Skype. On the server side, PIKA’s patent-pending AllOnHost™ technology provides a PC processor (host) based engine that can handle real-time audio switching, call transfer, and media processing functions. As a media processing engine, it can process audio from TDM, VoIP and now Skype. As part of PIKA AllOnHost, a set of API commands is provided to control the remote Skype clients. This message based API communicates with a client side application that in turn controls the Skype client directly.


On the client side, the PIKA Skype Gateway resides on the client machine and is responsible for transferring audio as well as call control information between the remote Skype client and application server. Using a proprietary audio transfer mechanism, the PIKA Skype Gateway is able to send and receive audio and call control information from a PIKA AllOnHost equipped application server.

“When PIKA looked at the challenge of connecting to Skype and similar Internet communications services, we recognized two main issues to overcome. The first was to get connected to the client, gaining access to both audio and call control. The second, and more difficult, is providing a solution that allows developers to switch, transfer, and media process this audio without adding noticeable delay. PIKA AllOnHost is designed for that exact purpose and is the key differentiator of our solution from basic gateway approaches,” said David Clarke, Business Development Manager at PIKA.

To read a white paper that examines next generation business communications and provides an overview of PIKA Connect for Skype, go to www.pikatechnologies.com/skype

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