Skype Partners with Citrix for Just-In-Time Web Conferencing

Event Summary

March 1, 2011 - In a keynote address at Enterprise Connect 2011 in Orlando, Skype announced a strategic partnership with virtual computing and Web collaboration vendor Citrix Systems. The partnership will enable Skype to introduce Web and audio conferencing capabilities enabled with GoToMeeting technology from Citrix.

Quick Take

Analytical Summary

• Current Perspective: Positive on Skype's announced strategic partnership with Citrix Systems to launch a combined solution leveraging Web and audio conferencing capabilities based upon Citrix GoToMeeting, because this move will greatly expand Skype's potential role within the enterprise as a more fully featured collaboration platform player. However, the slow burn of this partnership and the limited scale and scope of the resulting service leave room for future improvements and for competitors to counter Skype's push into the enterprise.

• Vendor Importance: High to Skype, because this announcement bolsters the company's recent enterprise-focused product introductions (Skype Connect and Skype for Business), strengthening the company's chances of moving some of its sizable yet consumer-centric customer base (145 million users) toward a for-pay business model. This announcement also serves to bolster Skype's chances of successfully going public this year, strengthening its stance as an independent player despite earlier rumors surrounding the company's potential acquisition.

• Market Impact: Moderate on the collaboration platform market in general and Web conferencing vendors in particular, because it will take between ten and twelve months for Skype and Citrix to bring their joint solution to market. Also, because Skype will position its solution as a just-in-time, ad hoc conferencing solution, the company will not seek to compete directly with established Web conferencing solutions such as Cisco WebEx Meeting Center or Adobe Connect, which focus on delivering scheduled as opposed to ad hoc conferencing services. However, given Skype's long term objective of expanding its portfolio to combine real-time and persistent collaboration solution, its partnership with Citrix heralds direct competition with larger rivals Cisco (beyond just WebEx Meeting Center) and Microsoft, both of which are also building out enterprise collaboration platforms focused on combined voice, video, messaging et al.

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