Global VoIP provider adds support for WebRTC, so its enterprise and service provider customers can offer click-to-call with no network. upgrades.

Sarah Thomas, Director, Women in Comms

May 8, 2014

2 Min Read
Voxbone Tweaks Its Network for WebRTC

The promise of WebRTC lies in the ability to add click-to-call in any supported browser with little investment needed. But, to do it with carrier-grade quality and security requires a few extra steps.

That's where Voxbone SA comes in. The local VoIP operator, which boasts the largest virtual local phone number library for 52 countries, is launching a Web Real-Time Communications service that will let its enterprise and service provider customers use its private VoIP network for WebRTC-powered calls.

What that means is any company with SIP-based VoIP infrastructure can also deploy a WebRTC service without upgrading its network. So, for example, a consumer visiting a healthcare company's website might want to call and make an appointment. With one click on the site, they would be connected, and the call would run over the private Internet rather than the less reliable public sphere. (See Genband Builds a Gateway to WebRTC.)

"We make an abstraction of WebRTC for the customer," Dries Plasman, vice president of marketing and product management, tells Light Reading, in an interview conducted via WebRTC (with a one-click set up, as promised). "They can use it on their website or on web apps without bothering about WebRTC in the network."

Network operators have expressed interest in the click-to-call tech, which gives them another way to connect with their customers, not to mention a valuable service to provide their enterprise customer base. But, as Plasman points out, they often wait for a technology to be mature and standardized before jumping in. It's a way to protect their networks, but also ends up putting them months behind their over-the-top competition. (See NTT Opens a WebRTC Chat Room and WebRTC & the Rise of the WebCo.)

Plasman says using the Voxbone private VoIP network gets them the quality of service they require and a reliable head start with an emerging technology.

"Today WebRTC is a very young standard," he says. "There's a lot talk about it, because it has important benefits, but it's new and it still evolves on a weekly basis. That's why a lot of big service providers who have complex networks are a bit afraid of investing in WebRTC infrastructure, knowing that the standards will still evolve."

Voxbone is making this capability available to its customer base, which includes service providers like Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE: DT), Telefónica SA (NYSE: TEF), Level 3 Communications Inc. (NYSE: LVLT), and Skype. The company says that 10 of its existing cloud conferencing and contact center customers will be first participating in a private beta trial, with general availability expected in the fourth quarter. (See NTT Taps Voxbone for Enterprise VoIP.)

— Sarah Reedy, Senior Editor, Light Reading

About the Author(s)

Sarah Thomas

Director, Women in Comms

Sarah Thomas's love affair with communications began in 2003 when she bought her first cellphone, a pink RAZR, which she duly "bedazzled" with the help of superglue and her dad.

She joined the editorial staff at Light Reading in 2010 and has been covering mobile technologies ever since. Sarah got her start covering telecom in 2007 at Telephony, later Connected Planet, may it rest in peace. Her non-telecom work experience includes a brief foray into public relations at Fleishman-Hillard (her cussin' upset the clients) and a hodge-podge of internships, including spells at Ingram's (Kansas City's business magazine), American Spa magazine (where she was Chief Hot-Tub Correspondent), and the tweens' quiz bible, QuizFest, in NYC.

As Editorial Operations Director, a role she took on in January 2015, Sarah is responsible for the day-to-day management of the non-news content elements on Light Reading.

Sarah received her Bachelor's in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She lives in Chicago with her 3DTV, her iPad and a drawer full of smartphone cords.

Away from the world of telecom journalism, Sarah likes to dabble in monster truck racing, becoming part of Team Bigfoot in 2009.

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