Google acquires Gizmo5, builds IP telephony portfolio

Google today officially announced that it had acquired IP telephony software company Gizmo5, a service many users have already tried to use in conjunction with their Google Voice accounts to make SIP calls.

In the Google Voice blog, product managers Wesley Chan and Craig Walker said, "While we don't have any specific features to announce right now, Gizmo5's engineers will be joining the Google Voice team to continue improving the Google Voice and Gizmo5 experience. Current Gizmo5 users will still be able to use the service, though we will be suspending new signups for the time being, and existing users will no longer be able to sign up for a call-in number."

Since last summer, a number of Google Voice users have published methods of integrating a Gizmo5 account with a Google Voice account to enable free incoming and outgoing calls over SIP.

The integration of Gizmo5's technology has the potential to vastly grow Google Voice into the proverbial Skype killer.