NTT Communications today announced free trial for its WebRTC Chat on Skyway web application.
The trial will be used to confirm system reliability and additional features to SkyWay’s WebRTC platform, said NTT Comm.
The web app uses WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communications) technologies for browser-to-browser communication between devices in real time, the first such application in Japan.
WebRTC enables real-time point-to-point (P2P) communication for voice, video and data (ex. file) sharing between browsers of devices including PCs and smartphones.
Besides ensuing private communication for web services, it also helps to reduce operational costs for application and service developers and providers by minimizing server resources.
The company said existing P2P communication requires a dedicated application in each device, but WebRTC only uses conventional browsers, so service development costs are relatively low. WebRTC is expected to be used widely in future applications.
WebRTC Chat’s server-free communication realizes privacy and security. With respect to concerns that P2P services could be used for illegal data transfers, WebRTC technology stores the beginning and end of connection logs, so communication can be traced if necessary. NTT Com’s trial will test this feature by compiling and managing communication logs.
Whereas existing video chat services with dedicated applications usually require user registration, NTT Com’s WebRTC Chat can be used by accessing a dedicated website. Easy-to-understand images and sound effects strengthen the highly intuitive user experience of WebRTC Chat, said NTT Comm.
NTT Com developed the SkyWay platform to deploy its free WebRTC technologies. The source code library is open and available at GitHub, a software development support service. Both SkyWay and WebRTC technologies use HTML5, the newest version of the standard markup language used for the Internet.