An exciting new development for Web real-time communications (WebRTC) recently came to the fore, as Sansay rolled out a new next-generation session border controller (SBC) system designed to give service providers a little extra help in terms of getting WebRTC operations in place. Recently released numbers show the urgency that WebRTC proposes, so getting the necessary hardware in place to get service providers ready for this new technology is of great importance overall.
Sansay's new system, driven by its WebSBC architecture, offers up a lot of value for service providers looking to deal in WebRTC, including a media engine that's been rated carrier-class as well as WebRTC-SIP interconnect that's fully scalable. Sansay's WebSBC is actually considered something of a refinement of the VSXi SBC platform, which is in wide use currently as more than 350 service providers around the world put the technology to use in current operations.
As for Sansay's place in the system, word from Sansay's co-founder and CTO Jerry Ryner suggests that stepping up to WebRTC is just a natural step, especially given that Sansay can already put out an SBC that manages 20,000 queries every second. The new SBC is currently being put through its paces in interoperability trials, and should these trials prove successful, will offer up a nice body of evidence on how the browser-based calling of WebRTC can work with SIP-controlled calls in currently operating networks.
Naturally, the idea of WebRTC is shaping up to have a lot of divisiveness take place in the larger market, while at the same time offering up some incredible opportunity. With recent reports putting WebRTC endpoints at over one billion, between all the PCs and mobile devices that can use the service—recent reports from Disruptive Analysis suggests that the number will reach three billion by 2016's end—that's a lot of opportunity afoot. Yet major names like Microsoft and Apple are staying out of the WebRTC fray, at least in the short term, another opportunity for other browsers like Google's Chrome and Mozilla's Firefox, two main innovators in WebRTC, to get some fresh market share in the picture.
As for mobile providers, since WebRTC can use browser technology to bypass a PSTN, it's a question as to whether WebRTC is an opportunity or a problem in the making. But as Ryner described, service providers are eagerly searching out ways to make sure this new development is in fact an opportunity, especially by focusing on ways to offer a better service than just a standard browser might, giving the service providers a value-add. Ryner further expects a lot more to come out in the WebRTC field—more “wow” apps, he notes—and expects Sansay systems to be a major part of those developments.
Indeed, WebRTC will bring with it not only change, but opportunity for those ready for the incoming changes. Enterprise users especially will likely be eager to get in on WebRTC, giving access to simple, small-scale conference tools right from a Web browser. Mobile operators can get in on that action too, but at the cost of other parts of business, which will need to be altered to allow for the fullest impact of the changes to hit. Some have even predicted that data-only mobile plans will be widely available before too much longer has passed. WebRTC might help make that happen.
Change and opportunity are the two watchwords of WebRTC, and the more ready for these a company is—backed up with tools like Sansay's SBC—the more likely that company will be to profit from same.
Edited by
Rachel Ramsey
