ROI Networks has recently issued an interesting integration case study concerning their adaption of Skype (News - Alert) Connect.

ROI Networks is a systems integrator based in southern Calif., and they faced a challenge recently when one of their long-time multi-national customers in the semiconductor industry asked them to address their costly conferencing expenses.

The company already owned an Avaya (News - Alert) SIP Enablement Server and Meeting Exchange systems, which enabled in-house conferencing, but their satellite employees and customers around the world still incurred significant costs to dial into the Meeting Exchange system via standard PSTN-based or mobile telephones.

So ROI Networks checked into Skype Connect, which allows businesses to use their existing PBX (News - Alert) or IP-PBX systems to communicate with Skype users around the world at a more affordable rate.

Skype Connect also allows businesses to have local telephone access numbers in 25

major countries – which is important if you want to expand your footprint.

To accomplish this transition, ROI Networks chose the AudioCodes (News - Alert) Mediant 1000 MSBG with enterprise session border controller features. The Mediant 1000 MSBG provides both a WAN interface and LAN interface, allowing for IP-to-IP configurations.

On this development, ROI Networks officials said, “The WAN interface was used to connect with Skype Connect via the Internet, while the LAN interface was used to connect to the Avaya SES (News - Alert). In this configuration, the Mediant 1000 MSBG acted as a back-to-back user agent, resolving interoperability issues between Skype and Avaya versions of SIP.”

It seems to be working well. The system is currently active, handling important business conference calls on a daily basis. The reports are that the voice quality is superior, far exceeding expectations.

Most importantly, the cost reductions in access charges will result in savings of $15,000 per month in conferencing access charges, resulting in a return on investment of just a few weeks.