Event Review

Status of WebRTC across Asia

Status of WebRTC across Asia by Alan Quayle, with the help of experts contributing to the reality, not the hype, of WebRTC.

It’s 2020, WebRTC (Web Real Time Communications) became known in 2011 when Google open sourced intellectual property it had bought in previous years. Gossip about those acquisitions began in 2009. The IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) was already laying the groundwork with Opus (voice codec) officially in 2010, and back in 2009 the discussion process started that became WebRTC. It’s been roughly one decade. Did WebRTC change everything? Is WebRTC everywhere?

  • WebRTC myths and misconceptions. Understanding the two components of WebRTC, the open source project, and the standards track.
  • Reviewing the achievements of WebRTC across Asia.
    Understanding why ‘WebRTC’ companies such as Vidyo and Tokbox did not achieve big exits.
  • What is the current status of WebRTC, where are the standards, where is the innovation edge?
  • What are the options for adopting WebRTC across Asia.

Back on the 22nd April 2013 I ran a WebRTC pre-conference workshop, with the help many, including Jose de Castro, then CTO of Voxeo Labs, soon to be called Tropo. We had a range of WebRTC demos including Apidaze, Voximplant, Quobis, Huawei, Solaiemes, Bistri, and Netdev. Many of those companies and people went on to great success in programmable communications.

I used the slides I presented back in 2013 to reflect on how things have and have not changed over the past 7 years. Highlighting some of the changes, for example the even stronger control Google has over WebRTC (with browser and Android dominance). And how some things have remained the same: interoperability issues, lack of signaling, and no approval process.

I then focused on today, and reviewed the current situation of WebRTC and then the options we have in adopting the technology. I identified 6 approaches and reviewed the pros and cons of each.

  • Develop your own WebRTC-like system;
  • Build on your own using open source pieces and developing your own orchestration and management;
  • System integrators using open source and proprietary extensions and management platforms;
  • CPaaS with no professional services;
  • CPaaS partner;
  • Use one of the few vertically integrated specialized solutions fitting your use case.

I hope this helps more companies across Asia adopt what is right for them, than continue to wait as the situation looks a little too complex. Complexity is not going away anytime soon.

As stated in the CXTech Landscape presentation, my hope is TADSummit Asia will help Asian entrepreneurs close the revenue gap in CXTech.

If you have questions or comments, please add them in the comments section of this weblog. Else contact me directly.