It's another huge week for news in the Web-based real time communications (WebRTC) sector, and even a holiday week can't staunch the flow of news coming out in the field. New products, new services, and a wide variety of topics in general contributed to a news environment that might leave some wondering what the big stories were this week, and that's just a question we'll answer with our Week in Review coverage!
First, we had a closer look at the need for session controllers in WebRTC. There were several critical factors driving such a need, including a lack of settling on the issue of H.264 versus VP8, the need to acknowledge that the “browser-to-browser” concept likely won't be quite so clean in real-world executions, and the potential for intellectual property issues to come up in the marketplace. Adding these points together suggest that session controllers are likely to play a significant role in at least some facets of WebRTC's growth and development.
Next, we had a bit of a summary look at the recently-concluded WebRTC Conference and Expo, which showed off an enormous variety of WebRTC-related items set to arrive in the not too distant future. With a host of companies showing, and several taking home awards like Solobrate—who won the Best of Show award—there was quite a bit to see. It wasn't just products that defined the event, though, as industry discussion was rampant throughout the event, potentially readying next year's line of products.
Globant stepped in next, this time bringing out news of its first ever WebRTC hackathon. Set to take place in July, and dubbed the WebRTC HackaBLITZ, the hackathon in question is open to the entire development community. Globant has previously hosted several other hackathons, and more recently, AnyMeeting staged a WebRTC hackathon of its own, so it's clear that the concept of the hackathon—and the WebRTC variety in particular—is catching on as a way to spur new development.
A critical question emerged on the next piece of news, as the question was asked following the WebRTC Conference and Expo: where is the WebRTC killer app? Though there was no shortage of WebRTC products and services available at the show, many of the applications for this technology focused around several key points. These key points, in some estimations, simply didn't add up to a killer app, and that was going to have something of a limiting effect on the wider industry.
Finally, a new WebRTC product emerged from Vonjour, who was looking to make quite a splash in the larger market as it brought several critical features to the table at once. Offering up exciting new developments like advanced call routing, conferencing tools, auto attendant services and more, the Vonjour system was at last report planning expansions in the near-term future, alongside the already substantial offering posed by the current package.
Clearly, it was another big week for WebRTC, with all sorts of news coming from every side of the aisle. Whether it was new products and services, or simply in-depth analysis of the larger industry, there was plenty going on. Our global online community was constantly on the lookout for news to bring back, so be sure to join us back here next week for even more news in WebRTC, and as ever, every weekend for our Week in Review!
