Skype : Its not for business

On August 16th 2007, Skype experienced critical disruption. Users could not login and for some this problem continued for a few days. This problem was attributed to a massive restart of PCs with Skype installed, which affected Skype's resources since each Skype user is part of this peer-to-peer network. Did you know that your PC's resources are a critical part of Skype's network ? In fact according to this study, it appears that Skype has not central server aside from the login server !

Did you know that every Skype user makes his PC available as a node on their peer-to-peer network ? Read this article.

I know of so many people who use Skype as a primary tool for making cheap overseas calls. These people were up in arms and resorted to their more expensive international calling service from their local telco.

Skpe of course was apolgetic. And perhaps most interesting was the comment by Skype spokeswoman Jennifer Caukin.

Caukin said last week's outage was regrettable, and she added that the company has always encouraged customers to have backup communications. "Skype is not intended for enterprise-level needs.... It is important to remember that Skype is not a replacement telephony service," she said.

So those using Skype for business .. make sure you always have a backup method to make your calls !

Read Skype's explanation here on the failure of August 16th.