Ever since Skype first launched, they have really been one of the showcases for Global IP Solutions‘ (GIPS – formerly “Global IP Sound”) codecs, particularly the wideband iSAC codec which you could argue is largely what has accounted for the great audio quality you can often get on Skype calls. Now, of course GIPS has many other customers – in fact their customer/partner list reads like a veritable “Who’s Who” of companies within the VoIP industry. Skype, though, has always been one of the great examples to point to.
It would seem, though, that Skype and GIPS have had a parting of the ways. Back in March, there was discussion of new codecs in the Skype 3.2 beta and the possibility that this was as a result of an acquisition Skype had made. Yesterday, though, there was a post to the main Skype blog that included this (my emphasis in bold):
And because we’ve replaced our audio engine in our most recent releases — it’s now fully built in-house — it’s worth bearing in mind that you may run into some bumps when a call is placed from an older version of Skype to newer versions.
So “it’s now fully built in-house“, eh? That would seem to pretty clearly confirm that the GIPS engine is no longer inside of Skype. We can speculate as to why… did the contract with GIPS come up for renewal and GIPS wanted more $$$? Did Skype just want more control? Politics? Personalities? Some other reason?
In any event, it will be interesting to see Skype’s evolution as they work out the issues of the migration, particularly because there are undoubtedly a great number of people out there running an older version who have no clue that they should upgrade. (Earlier versions had no notification that a new version was available.)
GIPS should have been the only “part” of Skype that didn’t belong to them. That is usually a problem for any company that buys another company. Maybe it was a problem for ebay as well. Integrating a technology belonging to a company that Skype acquired, they cut the only link to a third party core technology, capitalizing the acquisition of Camino Networks.
If I buy a company, I want intellectual property is inside the company, not outside. My two cents 😉
GIPS has been beaten down by all this skype garbage, here are the
facts:
1.) skype / ebay is soon to participate in an arbitration hearing as
defendent according to GIPS sources. The hearing will occur somewhere
in scandinavia (Norway or Sweeden)
2.) there will be an upcoming podcast probably around the end of
september giving GIPS’s current state of affairs
3.) Ask anyone at the company where they are going and they will point
you to the two ORACLE licensing deals
4.) Ask anyone at the company and they will tell you anything is
possible including more aquisitions and / or US market listing
what has happened to the pps of late (up to aug 24 2007) is totally
absurd: and is due to either a.) hedge fund liquidation or b.) overly
rigid fund money management physilophy or c.) a few really stupid
money managers.
company deserves a high PE and will have huge earnings go to the
bottom line. the skype monies will go to the aquisition directly imho
company should be added here then again in a few months if it drops
some more then hold, THIS STOCK SHOULD NOT BE SOLD imho
good luck to all
CLYW is working w/ NSN