Do you want to build real time communication apps in JavaScript?

You can use Intel XDK together with Intel Collaboration Suite for Web RTC to build the real time communication apps.

With Intel Collaboration Suite for Web RTC (Intel CS for WebRTC )it is possible to build apps for real time communication over the web.

You need to use the Intel CS for WebRTC SDK built on top of W3C standard for WebRTC. You can create apps for broadcast, peer-to-peer and apps for conference.

To cater to the major OSs and HTML, the SDK is available in four versions one each for:

• Android
• JavaScript
• iOS
• Windows

There is a server that you need to get used to:
Intel CS for WebRTC Conference Server that provides the Video Conference Service that streams the service to many end points with the following quoted features:

• High performance, VP8 and H.264 real-time transcoding with Intel® Iris™ Pro and Intel HD Graphics
• Scalable multipoint control unit (MCU) server
• Efficient mixing of HD video streams for saving bandwidth and power on mobile device
• Intelligent QoS control mechanism that adapts to different network environments

If you are building with JavaScript there are browser requirements and you should get this:
CS_WebRTC_Client_SDK_JavaScript..zip .

BrowserReq.png
For details go here:
https://software.intel.com/sites/products/documentation/webrtc/js/index.html

More information available here:
http://software.intel.com/en-us/webrtc-sdk

Is there a test for WebRTC support in browsers?

Yes. There is a test devised by WEBRTC.ORG. You can test the browsers with this simple test. As WebRTC depend on the use of built-in devices of your computer like Camera, Audio etc, you will have to give explicit permission to their use by the test.

Mozilla Firefox passes all the tests devised by WebRTC.org as shown in the following. All you need to do is launch your browser and type in the address, test.webrtc.org. You will be asked whether you are ready to share the devices like camera, audio etc. After getting an affirmative answer you will be presented with this test screen.

Webrtc_MOZ_test.png
You start the test by hitting the Start button. The various tests are run and if you wait a little while you will get this display,

Webrtc_Moz.png

As you can see most of the tests were successful except for one. This may be due to the configuration as you see this detail:

 Reflexive connectivity
[ INFO ] Gathered candidate of Type: srflx Protocol: UDP Address: 24.25.241.5
[ WARN ] Could not connect using reflexive candidates, likely due to the network environment/configuration.

With Microsoft Edge most of the tests fail and the results are as shown in the following images:

 WebRTC-MSFT01

 WebRTC-MSFT02

WebRTC-MSFT03

I did wait for a while to see if it runs the remaining tests and it did not.

The good news however is that ORTC through its APIs, support WebRTC in Edge so that Edge can communicate with Firefox a la WEBRTC. We shall look at it in another post.

What is Web RTC?

WebRTC is still evolving although it has already made a big presence.

WebRTC stands for Web-based Real-Time Communications. It is free and the WebRTC project provides mobile applications and browsers to have communication capabilities using simple Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).  Since voice and video are involved it is complicated because of various standards it has to contend with.

WebRTC is supported by Google, Mozilla, Opera and others. Microsoft is not in the list having differences over some of the details such as Google's VP8 video codec to become the default.

Microsoft has its own web based communication which is called CU-RTC-WEB. Microsoft acquired Skype which has browser-based version of voice and video calling application and it is in Microsoft's interest to stay with evolving WebRTC.

The key resource is WebRTC.org.

Here are the components of WebRTC, a screen shot from the WebRTC site.

If you are interested in the under-the-hood details of WebRTC go here (http://www.webrtc.org/reference/webrtc-components).

Here is video of browser based communication between Mozilla and Chrome.

Read more on how the technology is evolving;
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2849392/does-skype-for-web-mean-webrtc-is-ready-for-prime-time.html