Think about how many parts of your daily routine have moved to the Internet – banking, shopping, reading, sharing and communicating are all things we do on browsers every day. WebRTC is a technology trying to bring one of those – communicating – completely to the browser. This week, we saw WebRTC introduced as part of company products and analyst predictions. Here are the top WebRTC stories this week.
The week kicked off with imo.im, a communication and social discovery platform that opens up discussion with other imo users via “Broadcasts” and enables real-time communication via chat or video. The company recently updated its website with WebRTC features to enable seamless communication across all devices, including Android and iOS-based devices.
Italtel introduced its integration with WebRTC with Embrace, a cloud-based Web application server that enables WebRTC services in a TLC network or standalone WebRTC solution integrated in an ICT infrastructure. It enables audio and video calling for up to five participants, features IM, desktop sharing and file sharing, offers an active directory integration and supports both H.264 and VP8, on top of other codecs g.711, g.729 and OPUS.
Flashphoner is another company working to integrate WebRTC. Its newest product brings all the necessary tools needed for a fully functional WebRTC call center for as little as $260. The $260 may be the price tag for the minimum licensing fee, but this still includes two lines for WebRTC-SIP audio calls with Opus codecs and G.711, perfect for small site owners who would like to have a widget that allows visitors to click-to-call on low-traffic pages.
VoipSwitch recently unveiled a mobile VoIP solution compatible with both iOS and Android. Available as over-the-top (OTT) content for smartphones that does not interfere with existing mobile plans, the mobile dialer allows users to run VoIP on their smartphones, allowing them to avoid higher rates by using fewer minutes. However, one of the biggest draws of the new upgrades is compatibility with WebRTC for unparalleled mobile video communication.
WebRTC has the potential to be of great use in a number of industries, including healthcare. Weemo, a provider of a WebRTC platform that makes it easy to add real-time video into any app on any browser, device or network, powers the HIPAA-compliant telehealth platform from MediSprout.
“We first looked at Weemo because their platform leverages the WebRTC open-source project. We played around with Weemo’s APIs and mobile SDKs and found the integration process quick and straightforward,” said Randy Findley, founder and CTO of MediSprout. “We needed to implement a video chat feature that our users could access from any browser and any device, something Weemo’s platform offers.”
Despite the growth of companies integrating WebRTC into their product portfolios, some people believe WebRTC is still just hype. As an added measure of convincing about WebRTC’s potential to disrupt communications, tyntec, a global mobile messaging operator and cloud communications provider, believes WebRTC will be one of the hottest topics of 2014. The company forecasts that 2014 will be the year of stronger mobile-to-mobile communication offerings, and operators will have to adapt to standards and technologies like WebRTC and VoLTE. It says operators will need to embrace new technology like WebRTC to create future monetization models.
Check out WebRTC World for other stories you missed this week, and be sure to stay tuned in the future for the latest industry news and developments. Have a great weekend.
