Internet telephony firm Skype is opening up its technology to third party developers. The move means coders will be able to integrate Skype's presence and instant messaging services into their website or applications. In opening up to third party developers, Skype boasted that it was creating the "largest open instant messaging platform" in the world. The SkypeNet and SkypeWeb Application Programming Interface (API) will be opened up as part of the wider Skype Developer Program, which already supports a community of partners and developers.

The firm says its software has been downloaded 150m times in 225 countries and territories since its launch two years ago. More than 51m people are registered to use Skype's free services and 2m people have created accounts for Skype paid services, according to the firm. According to a recent study by network management firm Sandvine, Skype accounts for 46 per cent of all US VoIP traffic. ®

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