By Juan Carlos Perez, IDG News Service, 03/27/06

Lycos Monday plans to launch a VoIP phone application, its first serious entry in years to the now red-hot market of Internet telephony.

Lycos Phone, which will compete directly with similar offerings from Yahoo and eBay's Skype unit, is based on technology from Axill Europe, whose Globe7 application Lycos is licensing.

 The companies have entered intro a 3-year exclusive deal, during which Axill has agreed to not license Globe7 to any other major portal, including Yahoo, Google, Microsoft's MSN and Time Warner's AOL.

 Lycos is confident that its Globe7-based service will distinguish itself from the pack through a collection of entertainment and interactive features that aim to complement its core Internet phone functionality, Lycos COO Brian Kalinowski said.

With Lycos Phone, the company wants to replicate a "living room" experience for users, by letting them engage in other activities while they chat, such as watching television, listening to music, conducting instant messaging sessions and surfing the Web, all within the phone application's interface.

To this end, Lycos Phone can be considered a "full-service media player" with integrated features such as streaming video IPTV, MP3 player, Web browser, proprietary IM network, and, later, the Lycos Mail Webmail service, he said. It is necessary to pack these features within the interface because the time users spend in their VoIP applications has been and will continue to rise, he said.