Skype inks partnerships with Avaya and Facebook

Skype has announced a partnership with Avaya aimed at US enterprise customers, amid reports that the VoIP firm is soon to announce an integration deal with Facebook.

The Avaya deal will be divided into two phases. The first will tie Skype Connect into Avaya's enterprise VoIP communications hardware and software.

The partnership will allow Avaya users to place calls through Skype Connect, while maintaining the security and compliance components of the Avaya service.

In the second part of the deal, the two firms will offer their communications services as a single platform. The companies envision a system in which Avaya users will call, chat and video chat with other users on either platform.

"Our relationship with Avaya is expected to expand the footprint for Skype Connect into more enterprises in the US market, while allowing us to help Avaya's customers benefit from Skype's cost savings and access to Skype's global user base," said David Gurlé, Skype for Business vice president and general manager.

"We believe our integrated solution in the second half of 2011 is expected to offer the benefits of Skype to a growing number of businesses, and open up new ways for people to communicate and collaborate."

Meanwhile, Skype and Facebook are about to announce a deal to integrate Skype calling and messaging features into Facebook pages, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal citing unnamed sources.