As we turn the page from 2013 and look forward to 2014, this is a perfect time to reflect on the past year and set goals for the new one. Part of setting goals is about understanding what to expect in the upcoming months, and forecast the impact of different technologies and trends in your industry. Cisco is one of the key voices in the technology and communications industry shaping trends and laying out their impacts. The company releases its annual Visual Networking Index (VNI) forecast, which gives an in-depth look at the IP traffic forecast, but as many companies and publications do this time of year, it also releases its predictions for technology in the enterprise for the New Year. In 2014, it looks like WebRTC will play a big role as one of the defining technologies this year, along with the Internet of Things (or Internet of Everything, as Cisco calls it), M2M, cloud, HD video and SDN.
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WebRTC is a technology enabling real-time communications over Web browsers. Developers are realizing just a few lines of JavaScript and HTML5 can transform apps into Web-based services, eliminating barriers like downloads and plugins. It really started gaining traction in 2013, evident in the growth in attendance and sophistication of session topics at the WebRTC Conference & Expo. More providers are showcasing their technologies in action and more companies are understanding the power of WebRTC for different use cases, whether that’s for customer service, contact center applications, business collaboration, gaming or more.
According to Cisco, the embedding of rich media collaboration within browsers will transform the way businesses and organizations communicate and engage with customers.
“Within 12 months, we’re going to see retailers, financial services organizations, and other providers of high value services embedded Web real-time collaboration into their Web interfaces to transform the way they engage with customers,” the company said.
Cisco outlines a few use cases that are easily achievable with WebRTC. They include:
- Seamless conferencing
- Personal shopper/instant customer care
- Multimedia-rich 3D games
The company has been actively involved in the standard development and implementation of WebRTC. Earlier this year, Cisco announced plans to open source H.264, one of the video codecs in the running to become the industry standard. In turn, Mozilla then announced its support behind this strategy, saying that Cisco’s decision would allow Firefox to use H.264 for more tasks.
The IETF has yet to come up with a decision on standardizing video codecs for WebRTC. What do you think – will we see it in 2014? What do you think are you going to be the biggest changes in the development of WebRTC this next year? Let us know in the comments, and Happy New Year!
Edited by
Ryan Sartor
