webrtc question

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vir
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Jun 01, 2014 2:50 pm

webrtc question

Post by vir »

1) Will webrtc ( although at this stage used voice calling, video chat, and P2P file sharing ) in future replace IP PBX systems ?

2) Most integrations in future will be between webrtc will be with Asterisk . Does this therefore rule out vendor based IP PBX systems in future?
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paulej
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Re: webrtc question

Post by paulej »

You'll likely get a lot of differing views on this, but I'll throw in my opinion.

WebRTC is just a means of allowing a web browser to engage with people using various conversational and data modalities. It's a hot topic these days, primarily because Google wants a browser solution. However, others are interested as this is nonetheless useful generally. Every web site could become enabled with voice, video, etc.

An important aspect of WebRTC is that no signalling protocol is defined. That means devices connected to a web server are on little islands. One still needs a protocol like H.323 or SIP to bridge the islands. We're also currently defining a new protocol that uses JSON for signalling that might be preferable to the current session protocols.

Could this replace the PBX? Well, arguably the web server effectively becomes the PBX. What I think is more realistic is that existing PBX systems might add some kind of proprietary interface to phones using HTTP. Perhaps proprietary isn't the right word, since it is just a web page with JavaScript. But, it might truly be proprietary since nothing about WebRTC requires JavaScript or HTML. Vendors might define their own signalling over HTTP.

As odd as it sounds, I think WebRTC may very well usher in more proprietary stuff than we have today.

The biggest weakness I see with WebRTC is that the designers are still thinking about monolithic applications. All of the voice, video, data, etc. all come from whatever server you connect to. Third parties cannot enable users with add-on applications or features. That is the scope of the H.325 work, though, so that's OK. With the addition of H.325, it's possible to use several different applications on different devices at the same time while in a communication session. One might be a WebRTC video app on a PC while another might be GoToMeeting on a tablet. H.325 logically brings these different applications together.
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