It was another stunning week of developments in Web-based real time communications (WebRTC), and with plenty to talk about in terms of both product releases and impacts to the wider market, there's certainly a call for a bit tighter focus. With the weekend now in our grasp, it's a good time to settle in, take a breath, and run down some of the biggest events to hit this week with our Week in Review coverage!
First, we took a look at Zingaya's new VoxImplant release. VoxImplant offers up a complete communications platform that's utterly cloud-based, allowing developers to add WebRTC capability to both Web apps and mobile apps in a much simpler fashion than previously allowed. Click-to-call services, masked voice, video chatting, all of this and plenty more becomes possible with the use of VoxImplant services, and since VoxImplant supports SIP, enterprise users can get in on things too.
Next, Oracle stepped up its own WebRTC efforts, using the gains realized from the acquisition of Acme Packet to bring out the Oracle Communications WebRTC Session Controller. This device can bring both communications service providers and enterprise-level users WebRTC services in a highly reliable and highly secure—it's already been described as “carrier-grade”—that's available for nearly any device on nearly any network. Better, it can offer these services up to large numbers of users, making it a terrific overall fit for larger providers as well.
Oracle followed up on its WebRTC Session Controller news by also talking up its new data collection systems and a new version of its cloud-based billing and revenue management systems. The data collection systems, known as Oracle Communications Data Model, has been shipping for a couple of years now, but the newest versions allow for both billing and social network analytics to come into play. The Billing and Revenue Management Cloud, meanwhile, allows enterprises to move operations to more of a subscription-based model than a goods-selling model.
Then we had an exciting look at how WebRTC was looking to expand outward beyond telecommunications and enter some fields that might have proven less likely, like mobile broadcasting and live Web-based broadcasting as well. Major firms in the field—Adobe, Cisco, Google and Microsoft just to name a few—have already started to bring out new tools using WebRTC, and accompanying tools like H.264 and VP8, to help get WebRTC a bit of a leg up in the wider field.
Finally, a new study from ABI Research titled “Future of Voice and Messaging - WebRTC” made it almost distressingly clear just how popular WebRTC is likely to be in the field, with an expected 4.7 billion mobile devices capable of using WebRTC in place by 2018. That's better than one device for every second person on Earth, and suggests that even if Apple and Microsoft don't join in the WebRTC fray, there will be plenty of those who will support the service. However, while Microsoft devices may join in later should Microsoft's CU-RTC supplement not work, Apple simply appears to be staying out, and its sheer numbers may prove more of a problem.
That was the week that was in WebRTC. An increasing number of devices, not to mention things for said devices to do, is adding up to quite a bit of news in the field, which our global online community brought right back here quickly and effectively. Be sure to join us back here next week for all the latest news in WebRTC, and of course, every weekend for our Week in Review!
