The folks at Abbeynet Labs are at it again. Hot on the heels of their Firefox VoIP plugin, which is a full featured SIP user agent that allows one-click calling to any number on any web page, they have now announced a Thunderbird VoIP plugin. The Thunderbird extension works much like the Firefox one and you can now take advantage of its integration with the Thunderbird addressbook. From developer Luca Filigheddu’s blog:

As the first extension, even Thunderbird VoIP can work as a stand alone SIP user agent, so you don’t need to download anything other than the extension itself.

You can:

* Call your contacts from the Thunderbird addressbook.
* Send SMS to your contacts very easily.
* One-click call feature to dial any number straight from the mail you are reading.
* You need a valid account at abbeyphone provider. It’s all FREE of charge.
* Internet calls are FREE. PSTN call rates can be found at the Abbeyphone’s website.

When I first saw the Firefox VoIP plugin I asked Luca if we could expect a Mac version anytime soon. He responded that one was definitely in the works, for both the Firefox and Thunderbird clients, and I can’t wait to get my hands on those.