AnyMeeting put out a press release this week touting a Partner API allowing service providers to offer AnyMeeting web conferencing as a business tool for their subscribers or customers. The interesting part is that it was done in conjunction with WebRTC Expo IV, where the company is a Gold Sponsor.
WebRTC is an up and coming technology standard that is intended to allow communication and collaboration applications to run in browsers without requiring additional plugins or third-party tools such as Java and Flash. It gives application developers coding shortcuts such as accessing a user's webcam or microphone through simple, universal browser calls.
WebRTC is being watched closely by web conferencing vendors, as it has the potential to simplify their development and maintenance of the web conference program code. It also promises the potential for better performance with less overhead on central servers (at least for 1-to-1 web conferences), newer and more efficient audio/video codecs, better echo cancellation, and better interoperability between multiple systems.
Of course there are practical frustrations, as with every new technology. Standards have not been fully worked out and agreed upon (especially in the area of video transmission/reception). Web browsers need to be rewritten to include the new WebRTC calls, and the various manufacturers are approaching it at different speeds. Google introduced the project and has been the most progressive on getting it into their Chrome browser. Mozilla has been updating the most recent versions of Firefox to include WebRTC, but as I understand it, there is some grumbling about their implementation. Opera has it in the latest version. Microsoft has really been dragging its feet about getting WebRTC into Internet Explorer, which is understandable considering the huge challenges they have in moving users up from old versions. Given the number of enterprise companies still running Windows XP and IE 6, I wouldn't hold my breath for imminent widespread adoption of WebRTC among Microsoft shops.
I spoke to David Gerken, the COO & VP of Business Development at AnyMeeting. David told me that AnyMeeting is up and running right now with WebRTC for the audio side of their web conferencing product. Video is still handled through Flash, and the product can fall back to full Flash operation for participants who are not on a WebRTC browser. They have been very aggressive about pursuing the new technology because of the performance and quality advantages it offers their target small business users. David said that a large percentage of their user base joins through Google Chrome, making WebRTC a viable platform.
The Partner API announcement interested me because it is not intended for the same use cases as most web conference API's I am familiar with. Those are usually promoted as "open API calls" for customers who want to link a conferencing system with other applications such as sales/marketing systems, learning management systems, CRM systems, shopping cart systems, and so on. Because AnyMeeting concentrates on serving small businesses, their customers typically don't have the programming resources, time, or interests to do these kinds of integration coding projects on their own. So an open integration API is not a priority.
Instead, AnyMeeting is appealing directly to big name carriers serving large populations of small business customers. They offer their product through businesses such as Comcast Business, Staples AppCenter, and The UPS Store. The API they have built is intended specifically for these kinds of integrations and AnyMeeting works with the supplier to customize branding and messaging in line with the business portal.
I'll keep tracking the success and adoption of their WebRTC implementation and adoption as well as the success of their small business channel supplier approach. It's an interesting model.
