WebRTC and the Future of Video Communications

WebRTC is a new web standard for HD video calling and conferencing that will be supported in Chrome and Firefox this summer. It’s higher-quality than you probably expect and more important than you probably realize. We’ll start by giving an overview of the various parts of the WebRTC effort, including:

• Javascript APIs defined by the W3C
• A protocol stack defined by the IETF
• An open-source implementation contributed by Google

Then we’ll explore how having a high-quality real-time video engine in every browser will disrupt and democratize the video communications landscape. Some of the highlights:

• Video calling will finally be as easy as voice calling.
• The big, closed communication networks will lose their stranglehold on the market.
• There will be an explosion of novel video communications apps.
• Online interactions wil become richer and more engaging than ever.