Skype today announced a strategic partnership with Citrix Systems a global leader in virtual computing and Web collaboration. The partnership will enable Skype to introduce new, easy-to-use, Web and audio conferencing capabilities enabled with GoToMeeting® technology from Citrix. It will help expand Skype’s business offerings by providing powerful collaboration features for businesses of all sizes to set up and hold meetings. Based on Citrix’s successful GoToMeeting product, Skype’s new Web conferencing and audio features are expected to become available towards the end of the year.

The Web and audio conferencing features are expected to supplement the Skype for Business desktop experience, which already offers Skype users instant messaging, voice and video calling, group video calling, conferencing, file sharing and more. Adding the GoToMeeting capability will also allow Skype’s business users to quickly set up online audio conferencing meetings that users can join via Skype or through public switched telephone network (PSTN) phone numbers. It will embed Skype’s SILK audio codec, which means Skype users can expect audio quality that is practically crystal clear. In addition, it will enable rich and interactive screen sharing, whereby meeting hosts can easily walk through, annotate and highlight whatever they would like to show on their computer screen, such as a presentation or demonstration.