Airena, Inc., this week announced the integration of its AirSet personal information management and group collaboration service with Skype to bring Internet telephony and chat to AirSet groups.

AirSet is a Web and mobile "Lifeware" service enabling users to manage all their groups, all in one place, and access the data from anywhere. The solution provides an Ajax-enabled suite of group collaboration tools including a shared calendar, address book, to do lists, blogs, and Web links. AirSet's BREW and J2ME clients turn any mobile phone into a remote control for your life by synchronizing over the air to AirSet contact, calendar, and list information. AirSet also provides free desktop synchronization to Microsoft Outlook and Palm Desktop. With the Skype integration, group members can now speak with each other and schedule group conference calls or Instant Messaging chats using the Skype client.

According to Brian Dougherty, CEO and founder of Airena, "If you work in a big company, you might use groupware like Lotus Notes or Microsoft Exchange to coordinate a group's activities. But what if you work in a small or medium sized business? And where is the groupware for the rest of our lives? That's where AirSet shines.

"We all have important groups in our lives tugging at us from different directions, demanding our time and attention. Work colleagues, family, friends, social groups. AirSet's 'lifeware' service solves this problem by letting you manage the schedule, contact, and information-sharing needs for all your groups, all in one place, accessible from anywhere."

According to the release announcing the new Skype integration, the benefits include:

• Easier Conference Calls: AirSet organizes your life into the groups you interact with most frequently - family, friends, work colleagues and social groups. Now you can select a few members from any AirSet group and schedule a conference call through Skype with one click.
• Quickly See Online Status of Group Members. The Skype online status icon appears next to each AirSet group members' name so you can quickly see who's available in each of your groups for a telephone call or IM chat.
• Chat with Group Members: You can also select one or more members from the group list and initiate a chat using the Skype Instant Messaging feature.

Skype integration is currently available for Microsoft Windows XP and Windows 2000 operating systems using Internet Explorer 6.0 or later and Firefox 1.0 or later.