Vidyo (News - Alert) has what it says is the most advanced, best-performing platform for ultra-low delay, ultra high-quality multi-point video, ranging from mobile screens to 4K. By choosing Vidyo, application developers can combine the benefits of WebRTC’s open, free, browser-based endpoint architecture with those of a professional, rock-solid back-end that can easily scale to carrier-sized deployments. We recently interviewed Alex Eleftheriadis, Vidyo's chief scientist and co-founder, to learn more.

Vidyo plays in the video collaboration space. How does WebRTC fit into that?

WebRTC is a great engine for building video collaboration clients. It fits very well with our existing VidyoWorks platform for developers, and complements our existing VidyoWeb product (consisting of an installable plug-in for all major browsers). 

How is WebRTC acting as a change agent for videoconferencing?

WebRTC establishes a widely accepted API for building video communication into web-based applications as well as applications in similar Internet-enabled devices. Instead of having to rely on the monolithic applications offered by a particular videoconferencing vendor, application developers can now incorporate video into their own designs. That is a significant change.

What role does WebRTC play in the video-enabled banking application Vidyo is promoting?

The customer side of banking applications will predominantly be WebRTC, when available. It can be used in situations where customers wish to deploy solutions that do not require any software installation, or where application developers have already built a WebRTC client. Part of the reason that Vidyo is seeing significant traction in this type of application is the flexibility of the VidyoWorks platform. Financial services institutions can define and easily implement their own unique user experience right from a web or mobile application, all while insuring interoperability with existing call center and communication systems.

What does Vidyo bring to the table in terms of telemedicine, and how does WebRTC make that offering richer?

Vidyo delivers a visual communications and collaboration platform that enables seamless workflows for health care professionals and patients, regardless of physical location, using virtually any device and IP network. More than 36 of the top 100 integrated delivery networks in the U.S. have selected Vidyo’s platform with HIPAA-compliant encryption to power their telemedicine applications. Via a rich suite of APIs, the VidyoWorks platform has become an integrated component of the health care ecosystem of workflow tools, including patient portals, the largest electronic health records systems, ICU monitoring software, telemetry management software, carts, and direct-to-consumer care providers. With Vidyo, users don’t need to think about the technology they are using to connect and communicate. Vidyo protects health care organizations’ existing investments in legacy video communications infrastructure through robust interoperability. Vidyo’s support for WebRTC offers an additional client option that eliminates the friction of software installation so that patients can experience a simple, real-time video consultation with their physicians or care providers.

What are your plans for the upcoming WebRTC Conference & Expo?

We’ll demonstrate native interoperability of today’s VP8 based WebRTC clients with the VidyoWorks platform as well as our VidyoWorks JavaScript library for WebRTC. They allow those with existing WebRTC clients to easily and immediately take advantage of the value of the VidyoWorks platform. We’ll also present our on-going Scalable VP9 work in partnership with Google (News - Alert). Vidyo will be participating in many panels at the WebRTC Conference and will further discuss the benefits of WebRTC during our keynote on Wednesday, Nov. 19 at 12:10 p.m.  Please join us!

What are some of the gaps or hurdles to WebRTC that the industry needs to address?

Probably the biggest hurdle is universal browser support; it would be great if all browsers supported the standard. Third parties have already introduced solutions to that, with plug-ins implementing WebRTC APIs for Explorer and Safari. The biggest gap is probably getting the IETF drafts completed – it’s getting closer, but it’s not done yet. The VidyoWeb upgrades to all major browsers will continue to bridge the gap for VidyoWorks customers until WebRTC browser ubiquity is achieved.

What most excites Vidyo about WebRTC?

The availability of a widely adopted API for real-time video and audio to the developer community is a huge milestone. Vidyo was established to enable mass adoption of real-time communication to any device, any application, and on any network. WebRTC is a significant step forward in realizing this vision in endpoint applications. Vidyo is collaborating with Google to further enhance the next version of WebRTC, using the VP9 codec. By offering its scalability know-how, it will bring unique features of our VidyoWorks selective forwarding architecture to the world of browser-based communication. The resulting improvement in quality and system scalability will be instrumental for the types of deployments that we anticipate with WebRTC.