It was as ever a big week for Web-based real time communications (WebRTC), and with a big week comes a lot of news in the process. But with a lot of news comes a need to better understand how that news fits into the bigger picture, so with a weekend at our doorstep, it's a good time to have that second cup of coffee and run down the high points of the week that was, which is just what's on tap with our Week in Review.
First, we had a look at 3CX's Web conferencing efforts thanks to recently acquiring the e-works Web conferencing solution. With that acquisition in hand, 3CX will add the e-works solution to the 3CX Phone System, making it a more powerful and more versatile solution overall. The e-works solution also gives 3CX the necessary framework to offer support for WebRTC, which allows for much easier access to conferencing functions without the need for additional plug-ins. Availability was as yet unknown, but 3CX noted announcements on the topic would be “forthcoming.”
Next we looked at DeskRoll, a remote desktop tool that takes advantage of WebRTC capabilities to make accessing a desktop system from anywhere easier and simpler. It's the kind of thing that may sound tailor-made for remote workers, thanks to its ability to access a desktop via a simple Web browser, and without the need for extra plug-ins or a Flash player. With DeskRoll, users can control computers remotely, send and receive files, work behind firewalls and much more.
With telecommuting on the rise throughout enterprises of all size, the role of the telepresence robot is starting to come more readily into the fold as well. One of the newest entrants in the telepresence robot field is from Double Robotics, which uses a pair of iPads—one mounted on the robot and one for the user—to move around the office, communicating with other employees who essentially talk to the iPad on the robot, which transmits the image of the user's face via a camera connection.
Then we had a look at the WebRTC API, and how the development of that API was prompting developers to use specific tools for certain situations. Some Mac developers liked to turn to Xamarin, yet at the same time would also turn to Visual Studio 2012 for other functions. Just which tool was involved in which development function depended largely on the necessary features the tool in question could bring in at the time, whether it was the ability to interact with C, the ability to debug code, or how the tool worked in terms of building and testing.
Finally, we looked at Mozilla Labs' new TogetherJS tool. TogetherJS offers a complete open source JavaScript library, sufficiently so that it can be used to add a variety of tools to a user's website, including collaboration tools. TogetherJS allows such functions to be added simply and effectively, and refines on Mozilla's earlier release, TowTruck. TogetherJS offers significantly more than TowTruck did, while at the same time keeping much of TowTruck's underlying systems in place.
That was the week that was in WebRTC, and with all sorts of new tools emerging, new ways to use these tools, and new applications being created for the end users to put to work, it was clear there was a lot going on. Our global online community put out some fantastic work this week, and so, be sure to join us back here next week for all the latest in WebRTC, as well as every weekend for our Week in Review.
