Everyone has heard of Skype, but not everyone has used it. Last week, a colleague took delivery of a new Levono notebook with a built-in webcam. The first thing I said was that he should install Skype. He said he’d heard of it and knew it was a voice over IP application, but didn’t think he’d need it.

After installing it and demonstrating it’s capabilities, it’s now inconceivable that we’d ever communicate without the video element of the call. We both get more from the conversation when we are seeing eachother. Even when it’s only discussing MPLS circuits and their relevance to a particular environment, Skype Video brings more to the communication.

But there are other elements in the Skype arsenal that really make this a pivotal business tool. We use the Skype Chat to send web addresses, links to sites, any information really that needs to be accurately transcribed. We also use the File Transfer utility to send bigger text files and other data.

All in all, Skype really does deliver. I’ve been a big fan since its inception, and have both personal and business contacts. While quality of service is an obvious issue, no doubt this is something that will improve over time as broadband contention ratios drop and MPLS provision in the hoe increases. At that point, Skype could become a real contender against Polycom and Tandberg for multipoint videoconferencing services.

If you haven’t yet used Skype, I urge you to try it.