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April 07, 2014

WIT Software's WebRTC Gateway Gives New Authority to MSISDN to Identify Users


The communication landscape is one that's rapidly, as ever, in flux. With Web-based real time communications (WebRTC) gaining ground in the field, alongside new options like voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) and its mobile cohort voice over LTE (VoLTE), there are more choices than ever before. Mobile phone voice service still has a major chunk of the market, but that may not be so much longer thanks to a new WebRTC platform from WIT Software that threatens one of mobile voice's key advantages.

With WIT Software's new WebRTC platform, WIT WebRTC Gateway, mobile operators get a critical new advantage when it comes to putting WebRTC to work. Not only do all the standards of WebRTC come along for the ride—the amazing combination of audio and video, all available in real time—but one critical bonus gets added in: the use of the mobile phone number (MSISDN) as the key identifying mark of users.

While WebRTC might have posed a fairly substantial threat to those who didn't adopt it—the combination of voice and video in one place is a pretty major value proposition in its own right—keeping the MSISDN involved in WebRTC allows mobile operators to better take advantage of this new platform. WebRTC without the mobile operator—represented by over-the-top (OTT) services like WhatsApp—might have been a major problem for mobile operators. But the more mobile operators can incorporate WebRTC into operations, the better the likelihood that said operators can keep up with the OTT services. But perhaps best of all for mobiles, the use of the MSISDN was perhaps the one major competitive advantage for mobile operators as matched against OTT services. With the MSISDN able to be more readily linked to WebRTC, mobile operators can hold a primary advantage while still putting a new technology to work.

Additionally, WIT WebRTC Gateway doesn't skimp on the quality, either; it's a solution that's carrier-grade for added quality, and even includes a hybrid architecture to ensure that the communications systems can work not only with WebRTC-compliant browsers like Opera, Firefox and Chrome, but also with those that aren't like Internet Explorer and Safari. Non-compliant browsers are brought into the picture thanks to a combination of HTML5 and Adobe Flash protocols.

With the WIT WebRTC Gateway, mobile operators now have an opportunity to more effectively compete with OTT providers, a development that should prove welcome for most any mobile operator's shareholder base. While this doesn't exactly mean good news for the concept of mobile voice, what it does mean is potentially good news on another front for mobile operators: the network. Future network expansion can focus more on data provision, because WebRTC functions would be more likely run on a data network than on a voice network. Improvements in the small cell market, as well as things like the Pcell system, offer some big new potential when it comes to getting more bandwidth in play. That's heaven-sent for mobile operators who need more data to get WebRTC humming, and with the MSISDN on hand, that keeps one of mobile operators' biggest advantages in as well.

Only time will tell just how this all works out, but services like WIT's may well give mobile operators the second wind necessary to stay in action in these changing times in communications.




Edited by Alisen Downey
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