Microsoft Teams, Direct Routing and SBCs (pt.1)

My journey creating a scalable SBC as a Service for Microsoft Teams Direct Routing is over at Snapsonic.com.
WebRTC Ships in MacOS and iOS 11
Update:
Looks like VP8 is not there after all, bummer. More political jostling afoot, which sucks for the development community.
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This is a big deal, to have Apple / Safari onboard is really the final major obstacle in the adoption of this awesome standard.
More info (thanks Marc Abrams !!)…
Based on the beta for macOS High Sierra – that was made available yesterday…
– https://cl.ly/3q0p1O3…
– Test samples: webrtc.github.io/samples/ (It passed most of the tests)
– Video codec support is VP8 and H.264 (I have not seen a test that shows H.265 or HEVC but I know it’s there)
– Audio codec support is Opus, ISAC16, G.722 and PCMU
– Basic datachannel support is there but none of the tests seem to work
AWESOME!!! This took a bit longer that many of us were expecting, but hey better late than never!
PulverHWC – How We Communicate

Next week I will be joining friends old and new at PulverHWC to rediscover – How We Communicate.
Here is an email from Jeff Pulver inviting all of you to join us in Los Gatos for what is sure to be a landmark occasion.
Hope to see you there!
Erik
The Keys to the Communications Universe
Next week I return to doing the one thing that I love best – bringing together brilliant, interesting people.
Leaders, visionaries, dreamers and market makers from the worldwide communications industry have accepted my invitation to take part in the Pulver HWC Summit, May 18 – 19 at Testarossa Winery in Los Gatos, CA. I am grateful for both the people who are speaking and the tech legends who have signed up to join us for an intimate conversation. I believe understanding the message behind “How We Communicate” (“HWC”) is the next great area of growth in the communications space. Trillions of dollars of opportunity will be created and there are relationships to be forged, deals to be made, and knowledge to be shared.
There are a limited number of tickets still for sale. To join the conversation and to register, please click here. I would appreciate it if you could share this email with your friends and family involved in the communications industry.
Thank you!
Warm hugs, Jeff
Vancouver WebRTC – Meetup 2 @PlentyofFish

With more than 40 members and growing, Vancouver WebRTC now has a new venue! Chris Simpson from PoF rallied to get us into their new presentation lounge, the “Aquarium”, thanks Chris!
Our next event is on June 25th from 6-8pm and we have a great evening planned with Omnistream and Perch presenting!
WebRTC Meetup – Vancouver
Vancouver is one of the hotbeds for IP communication technology and is home to many developers. With the advent of WebRTC, integration of voice and video chat into almost any application is within reach but as always, there are always pitfalls. Sounds like a great reason to start a WebRTC meetup in Vancouver!
As of today Vancouver now has its own WebRTC meetup group. If you are interested in linking up and talking to like-minded RTC geeks implementing real time comm using WebRTC please join and let’s get together. We will also be looking for meetup facilities & sponsors (snacks, drinks etc.).
I am thinking our first meetup will be in May sometime, not sure on exact dates yet.
Agenda and topic for the first meeting is wide open. Topics like, “WebRTC 101” or “Dos and Don’ts” come to mind, but we can decide on that when we have heard from some active members.
We will also be bringing in some live guests from time to time via what else, WebRTC!
Hope to see you soon!
/Erik
Do you really want a dual MTI video codec for WebRTC?
Update: There is now some healthy conversation in the IETF WG around what “compliant” and “compatible” actually mean. More on this as it unfolds.
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We are now in the final throes of a consensus call in the IETF around which video codec should be made mandatory for those building WebRTC apps, services et al, who wish to be considered “WebRTC Compliant”. The codec contenders are VP8 and H.264, in many forms and combinations.
This latest consensus call is for both codecs to be mandated for all WebRTC endpoints, or “dual MTI codec”. I am sure I will catch hell from someone on language but that is the essence of it. As one might expect, there are some that are in favor and some that are against a dual MTI video codec. Those in favor seem motivated to accept this based on the promise of interoperability that might follow and other reasons. As one might expect, we are all quite eager to put this debate to bed so we could get on with other work.
This is not a decision that should be made lightly. Let’s consider the implications. Imposing a dual MTI suggests that every developer that wishes to produce a WebRTC compliant app must implement both codecs.
Coming from a co-founder of an RTC toolkit vendor I can tell you that this does not sit very well with me, nor others in the WebRTC WG. One glance at the thread comments should provide some insight.
I find it difficult to agree to mandate a dual MTI codec knowing that there are a great many developers who will not want or will be in a position to implement both codecs. Yes, many WebRTC SDK vendors will support both. Even if both codecs and their transports are provided as part or could be easily added to the application at compile time it doesn’t mean that every developer will want to implement or ship both codecs.
Bottom line is, according this consensus, if developers do not implement/ship both codecs they are not considered WebRTC compliant. To me, this seems like a rather unreasonable expectation. Developers should be able to choose which codec they ship, and not be forced to do 2x the work to become compliant.
I would love to hear from other developers on this. Do you plan on implementing both VP8 and H.264 in your apps?
ORTC Interview: webrtchacks’ Chad Hart & Robin Raymond #webrtc
webrtcH4cKS: ~ ORTC is not the “Other” RTC: Q&A with ORTC CG Chair Robin Raymond
Char Hart of webrtchacks.com interviewed ORTC Chair – Robin Raymond on a range of topics. Excerpt:
Biggie vs. Tupac. Gates vs. Jobs. Apple vs. Samsung. Nothing catches people’s attention for no legitimate reason like a feud. Unfortunately this isn’t just a celebrity phenomenon. Feuds have been endemic even to real communications as well. From the very beginning, Elisha Gray’s dispute with Alexander Graham Bell over the original telephone patent showed the industry has a propensity for squabbles…
Hookflash, Google and Microsoft lead on ORTC / WebRTC 1.1 Public Draft
The first ORTC Public Draft Specification has been published, authored by Hookflash, Microsoft, and Google. (http://ortc.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/ortc.html ) This specification extends WebRTC 1.0 with new functionality to create a WebRTC 1.1 API with exceptional flexibility and no loss of compatibility.
Like WebRTC, ORTC (Object Real-time Communication) enables plugin-free real-time communications for mobile, web and cloud, but is specifically tailored to provide the direct control needed to enable advanced multimedia and conferencing features.
“We heard developers say that they wanted more direct control over the technologies available in WebRTC. At the same time, we didn’t want existing developers to have to start over with a new API. ORTC is our proposal for how we can accomplish both of these things – a new set of APIs for direct control, that builds off the existing WebRTC 1.0 API set. As an evolution of the existing API, we consider this WebRTC 1.1” comments Justin Uberti, Google Tech Lead, WebRTC. “We’re grateful to Hookflash for their work to get ORTC off the ground. They have been instrumental in making this cross-industry collaboration happen, and we look forward to continuing our work with them.”
This newly published public draft has come a long way since the W3C ORTC Community Group was formed in mid-2013. As it has progressed from an initial set of ideas to a fleshed-out draft complete enough for implementations, several companies have gotten closely involved, with Microsoft and Google now joining Hookflash as authors of the emerging specification.
“We have been working hard to get the ORTC API to the point where it can be implemented. This would not have been possible without the initial and continuing work of Hookflash”, commented Bernard Aboba, Principal Architect, Skype, “We also are excited by the ORTC API’s support for advanced video features such as SVC (Scalable Video Coding) and simulcast. The Javascript Object API approach has made these advanced video technologies more accessible, which has been difficult in the past.”
The W3C ORTC Community Group now numbers more than 60 participants.
“We believe the contributions to WebRTC 1.1 / ORTC will allow web communications technology to become ubiquitous and transcend nearly all communications technologies that came before it” says Hookflash Co-founder, Erik Lagerway, “We are honored to be working with some of the brightest minds at Google, Microsoft, and the other contributing members in the ORTC CG to mature WebRTC into a universal go-to toolkit enabling communications across the globe.”
For more information on ORTC, see:
W3C ORTC Community Group
ORTC.org – History and FAQs
WebRTC.is – ORTC & WebRTC news
Hookflash enables real-time social, mobile, and web communications for integration of voice, video, messaging with federated identity into world leading software, enterprise, applications, networks, mobile and computing devices. Hookflash and Open Peer are trademarks of Hookflash Inc.
Developers can register at (http://fly.hookflash.me) to start using the Hookflash RTC service and toolkits today. For more information on Hookflash RTC toolkits and White Labeling please visit Hookflash http://hookflash.com.
Come and work at one of the coolest companies in the space! We’re now hiring for these development positions: iOS, Android, Node.js & C++ send us your resume: jobs@hookflash.com.
Hookflash – Trent Johnsen
855-466-5352 Ext: 1
ORTC CG Meeting – 5
A few more changes to be made before we call for implementations, very, very close now. Should happen in next couple of weeks with new Editor’s draft.
Google Chrome 38-39 to ship with ORTC / WebRTC 1.1 APIs
For those who missed it, Chrome 38-39 looks like it will be shipping with ORTC 1.1 RTPSender / Receiver APIs as announced by Justin Uberti at Google I/O 2014. This really should not come as any surprise as RTPSender / Receiver APIs are now on track for WebRTC 1.0 integration as well, as per the last W3C WebRTC WG Interim meeting.