1. Jan Meijer
UNINETT eCampus & TTC member
TNC 2013
webrtc
why you should care

2. background: eCampus programme
● national programme
● enable more effective teaching and research in
higher education
● use IT to effect attitude and workflow change
● deployment deployment deployment
● for the 99%
● systemise, rationalise, scale up

3. the synchronous comms soup
● SIP, UC, MS Lync, Cisco Jabber
● H323, $$$ video conferencing rooms
● Skype, Google Hangout, Facebook,
whatshallwecallit
● web conferencing, AdobeConnect, WebEx etc.

4. 5 video feeds is enough for....

5. functionality
● audio
● video
● screen sharing
● application & desktop sharing
● document sharing
● chat
● recording

6. web-rtc
● browser based real time audio, video and
collaboration without plugins
● open standards based
● IETF RTCweb: on-the-wire protocols
● W3C Web Real-Time Communications Working
Group: Javascript API spec

7. +------------------------+ On-the-wire
| | Protocols
| Servers |--------->
| |
| |
+------------------------+
^
|
|
| HTTP/
| Websockets
|
|
+----------------------------+
| Javascript/HTML/CSS |
+----------------------------+
Other ^ ^RTC
APIs | |APIs
+---|-----------------|------+
| | | |
| +---------+|
| | Browser || On-the-wire
| Browser | RTC || Protocols
| | Function|----------->
| | ||
| | ||
| +---------+|
+---------------------|------+
|
V
Native OS Services

8. ietf deployment models
● browser-browser media path, with signalling in
backend
● with server multiplexing signals

9. functionality
● real time audio
● Opus (RFC 6716) mandatory-to-implement audio codec
● OPUS: high fidelity codec for both voice and music,
bandwidth scalable
● «WebRTC clients SHOULD include an AEC» + gain
control
● real time video, ongoing » discussion» on
mandatory-to-implement video codec, H264(5?) vs.
WebM/VP8
● screen sharing, document sharing etc.

10. http://apprtc.appspot.com
www.webrtc.org/demo (chrome)

11. implementation status
● IETF: ...
● W3C: last call working drafts Q2/Q3 2013, recomm. 2014
● Mozilla and Google on board
● supported in Google Chrome and FF Beta
● MS involved but waiting for standard to settle
● Apple tracking closely but keeping cards close to chest
● FreeSwitch: support in prod. from summer
● BigBlueButton open source web conf prototype
(UNINETT, NorduNet funded)
● Buzz at telecom conference

12. ● based on functionality it looks & smells like web
conf but will be so much more!
● chunks in the soup or new soup?
● «As the available bandwidth has increased, and
as processors and other hardware has become
ever faster, the barriers to participation have
decreased, and it has become possible to
deliver a satisfactory experience on commonly
available computing hardware.»

13. that's what web-rtc is
now to what it might mean
(my crystal ball)

14. disruptive innovation theory

15. disruptive innovation theory (Clayton Christensen)

16. disrupting web conferencing
● prediction: current web conferencing products will not be able to
adapt but they will try
● business models dictate evolutionary innovation
● too much investment in current product tech stack
● their tech stacks suck underperform exactly where web-rtc rules
offers better functionality
● won't be able to offer sufficient user experience for acceptable
price
● AdobeConnect, WebEx, BlackBoard Collaborate will be irrelevant
in a couple of years
● Clean slate species (startups) will take over. Old ones die or
become zombies
● Current products not integration oriented

17. disrupting standard vidconf
● much cheaper MCU/multiplexing functionality
with equal quality (see MCU port prices vs. web
conf seat prices)
● standard room based systems sell you all-in-
one package: microphone subsystem, camera,
TV, speakers + call set up & media transport.
Take out the latter!
● addressing with vidconfroom.uninett.no

18. disrupting UC?
● billion end points with good quality audio/video?
● lower barrier of entry in UC market
● client side audio and video quality no longer product
differentiators
● better inter-op between vendors: end to lock-in?
● reduces UC to directory + software-based MCU +
integrations with other enterprise infra

19. what does this mean for us?
● «17 GEANT partners currently offer a managed
webmeeting desktop service (up from 14 in
2011). The most commonly used platform is
AdobeConnect»
● «29 of the GEANT partner NRENs provide or
plan to offer a centrally managed video-
conferencing service, which clearly indicates
the strategic importance of videoconferencing»
● «1/3 of GEANT partner NRENs currently offe a
centrally administered VoIP service»
source: 2012 TERENA compendium

20. Opportunities!
● webrtc ought to make real time comms a lot cheaper
● and a lot easier to scale to 99% of the users
● UC1 integrating with all functionality with UC2?
● easy video calling finally achievable?
● easy group conferencing for the masses
● support research communities: web-rtc integrates nicely with
web based tooling used by research groups, solving the «lonely
researcher» problem?
● new products & services will come with new possibilities!

21. what to do?

22. communication
goal
tool
eyes on the prize!!

23. Jørgen Yri
● linguist, teaches Spanish
● collaborates across borders
● with various institutions in .no
● with various folks outside
● he wants
● easy to give access, regardless of formal home
● «a certain stability»
● easy screen and document sharing
● no heavy installs for students
● works on different platforms «without too much tinkering»
● not a lot of budget
● wants stuff that works, but need not be perfect
● doesn't care about tools

24. the market provides?
● target group?
● conditions?
● cost?
● time-to-deliver?
● public procurement?

25. Stuff to do?
● track closely: learn the tech, imagine the business.
● You have probably 2 years to still look on top of things
● Remember disruptive theory also applies to YOU
● prepare your users
● be ready when web-rtc hits: start then and you'll miss the party (costing your society)
● revisit your (class) room specs, decouple AV install from transport
● Geant Campus Best Practices, Physical Infrastructure
● plan for new procurement requirements and know when to introduce them
● try! Run trials! vidconfroom.uninett.no!
● UNINETT is considering organising a follow-up on BigBlueButton web-rtc sponsoring