3CX Gateway for Skype 2.0 – Beta released!
Recently we released a ‘prototype’ of a Skype Gateway – 3CX Gateway for Skype 1.0 which was based on an open source component. This allowed you to make and receive calls to Skype users. Using Skype you can allow customers to call you at no charge, and you can also leverage Skype clients on popular mobile platforms (Windows Mobile and Iphone).
However, we have been busy on building our own Skype Gateway. We wanted to make it easier to install, more performant and also develop a platform on which we can easily add features in the future.
So, 3CX Gateway for Skype 2.0 was developed – it’s all in pure C++ code now – so its very fast and efficient – and it can easily handle 20 simultaneous calls or more. Currently, 3CX Gateway for Skype 2.0 will not run on a Domain Controller.
It also supports the use of a master account, so that you can transfer calls from the master account to other accounts as the calls come in. This allows you to keep a single Skype ID as a main number without it giving a busy tone. We have also given it a better looking interface as you can see in the screenshot below.
A nice feature is that the Skype gateway can run on the same machine, eliminating the need for a separate box. Compare that to a Linux based appliance where you will need a separate box or machine to run the Skype gateway!
You can try out the beta here – comments welcome! Configuration guide is here
http://www.3cx.com/downloads/3CXGatewayforSkype2.msi
3CX Gateway for Skype
Hi,
Looks good and much easier to install than the original release. Just one question and one comment so far
1. How can I set this up to automatcally run when I reboot my server?
2. The computer I’m using has a built in speaker and running on Windows XP Professional SP3. Even though I’ve tried to turn this off I get the sounds for ring and call conversation over the speaker. Thought there might be something in the bios or windows control panel to disable this. Even when I select mute all and no speakers in Windows control panel I still get sounds as described. Any ideas how I can disable this?
Jonathan Hamon
It installs a windows service that runs automatically the next time you reboot.
Dont know how to disable the speaker i am afraid – sorry!
Hi, there,
Skype has its own audio control devices . Please access tool/option/audio setting/volume. Hope this helps. Thanks,
Lee
It runs perfect but there is a lot of CPU time involved so for me its unusable…
Mark
Please make a post on our Skype gateway forum. In our tests it uses very little CPU, so it is probably a configuration issue. Let us know what CPU usage we are talking about, operating system etc. Version of Skype and so on
Hi,
We are running 3cx on Hyper-V.
Workingfine (with some minorproblems) but for the Skype connection i read the following.
“Audio drivers must be installed and configured correctly – this is a Skype pre-requisite.”
Does this mean it wil not run on Hyper-V as it has no audio capabilities?
Eric
E.Krediet@PCBackup.nl
Hi,
The only thing you can try that might get it working is a virtual audio device/driver On the original version I did have some success with this with HyperV and Windows Server 2003 and XP but no luck at all with Windows Server 2008.
If you find a way of getting it to work I would really like to know. Thank you.
Jonathan Hamon
Excellent. Works really well, and so very, very easy to install.
Couple of questions to other users/the developers:
I am not sure, besides interoprability, what features and services are able to be passed between the Skype gateway Service, the application, the 3CX and the end user client? I.e.
1.Will the users still see his/her Skype contacts?
2.Will he/she still see their availability/presance?
3.Will he/she still be able to instant message via Skype?
4.Can they inport the contacts?
And if so how?
thank you
Jonathan Harrison
Thanks for the feedback. Contacts and presence would go beyond the scope of the gateway. If the user wants that he must use the Skype client itself.
SMS messaging via Skype and chat is planned for in future releases…