When it comes to mobile trends in 2013, WebRTC is one to watch.
RCR Wireless just released its list of top seven mobile trends for the year ahead, and WebRTC was near the top of its list.
“WebRTC and other browser-based communication technologies will start to be deployed in a meaningful manner toward the end of 2013,” predicted the site. “The early adopters of this technology will be enterprises for specific applications such as contact centers.”
There still are details to be worked out for the technology, however. Specifically, interwork and security.
“A browser-based plug-in application with open interfaces introduces significant security threats in the network that the market will address throughout the year,” added RCR Wireless, and “in the early stages, there will be a requirement for WebRTC to interwork with current technologies such as SIP clouds and PSTN for voice and multimedia communication. SBCs can bridge these islands of communication.”
Telecom expert and Webrtcworld blogger, Tom Keating, has been testing some of the WebRTC offerings currently on the market, and the technology has promise.
“WebRTC has been making great strides of late,” he wrote last week. “A few companies worth checking out are bistri, Plivo, and twelephone.”
Bistri, for instance, lets users make calls through a browser and connect their Facebook, Google, Windows Live, Yahoo and Jabber/XMPP accounts.
Others top mobile trends in 2013 include the proliferation of 4G LTE, voice over LTE (VoLTE), the explosion of video traffic, VPN in the cloud, big data and a growing machine-to-machine (M2M) market, according to RCR Wireless.
“This year, LTE networks will continue to be deployed at a rapid pace in preparation for the market explosion of voice over LTE in 2014,” wrote the site.
VoLTE will still be in its early adoption phase this year as companies iron out quality issues, and security is still an issue with VoLTE, according to RCR Wireless.
“Security concerns, at the border and within the network, will be front-and-center in the all-IP VoLTE nework. Security devices such as the SBC will be an integral part of a comprehensive VoLTE security solution,” it wrote.
In the enterprise market, VoLTE will morph into unified communications over LTE as additional multimedia communication services are offered over LTE broadband, added the website.
M2M also will be a big mobile trend in 2013, albeit perhaps a quiet one given its implications and the potential security concerns.
“As millions – maybe billions – of devices come online and are connected via wireless and other networks, there is a legitimate concern about security. A comprehensive security solution will be multifaceted and will include SBCs, among others,” it noted.
