The world we live in today is mobile. The growth of smartphones also means the proliferation of apps – you can probably think of any functionality, category or theme, and, “There’s an app for that.” We live in a world of millions of apps in app stores and marketplaces, and it’s these apps that are going to be prime targets to taking advantage of new technology, like real-time video communications. These apps are going to want to integrate technology like WebRTC to offer video capabilities. Luckily for these app developers, PubNub offers an extensive, flexible API powered by its Real-Time Network to do just that.
PubNub introduced its open source template, which allows developers to quickly and easily add video chat functionality into apps. The free template provides a fully functional video chat platform using WebRTC, PubNub and Google authentication for a global, reliable collaboration solution.
I caught up with Doron Sherman, VP of Business Development at PubNub, to discuss this template, the growth of mobile applications and the relationship between WebRTC and the Internet of Things.
WebRTC is opening developers to world of real-time communications, adding capabilities such as audio, video chat and high speed data exchanges that are traditionally locked into proprietary frameworks, like Skype, Sherman explained. The open source template enables developers to take the power of the Real-Time Network and combine that with WebRTC to produce collaborative apps.
The new template is basically a framework or blueprint for how users can take something like WebRTC – a protocol with very nice extensible capabilities, Sherman says – and bring it to a production environment. Developers need a scalable, reliable and manageable solution to help deploy products, and the PubNub Real-Time Network provides those capabilities.
It offers core components essential to delivering successful video solution, including presence detection, call signaling and initialization, import friend list and contacts and text chat.
Sherman describes the framework as future-proof; as soon as browsers are added, the Real-Time Network is already prepared and running. The focus of the template is communicating and collaborating. He says about 5 to 10 percent of applications deployed on the Real-Time Network involve WebRTC, video or audio chat capabilities. As developers find it easier to keep adding this functionality, the WebRTC ecosystem will grow.
“When Skype launched its innovative VoIP platform a decade ago, it sent ripples through the telecommunications industry. While the WebRTC protocol has created huge excitement as a way to deliver video chat ubiquitously, there’s still a gap between the protocol itself and the ability to deploy a working, globally scaled, collaboration application using this technology,” said Stephen Blum, CTO and co-founder of PubNub, in a statement. “Now, by combining PubNub’s Real-Time Network and WebRTC, anyone can deliver a true, Skype-like video chat app in a matter of days.”
WebRTC enables more than just video or audio conferencing. The WebRTC data channel enables broadcasting, unicasting and dedicated high-speed connections for point-to-point connections for applications. PubNub is also working with WebRTC to enable the Internet of Things, as it connects various endpoints to communicate.
Sherman notes there were about 200 million Internet users 1990s, and now there are 10 times as many users with the growth of IP communications and mobility. The IoT will drive another round of growth, as more than 20 billion devices connected are predicted to be connected in the next few years. Organizations and developers need the capability to tie those devices together, which is where PubNub comes in.
PubNub is a silver sponsor of the WebRTC Conference & Expo and is exhibiting in booth #204 at the event. The company is also speaking in a session, “Using the Data Channel,” on Thursday, Nov. 22.
PubNub also announced this week that Bhagat Nainani, long-time Oracle executive and software infrastructure veteran, has been appointed as VP of Engineering at PubNub. This comes off the heels of the company’s growth; it is adding two new data centers in San Paolo and Amsterdam and is moving to a larger San Francisco headquarters.
Visit www.webrtc.co to learn more about the template.
Edited by Ryan Sartor
