Genband Taps Vidyo Integration for UC VideoGenband Taps Vidyo Integration for UC Video

Extends the WebRTC-enabled, point-to-point video conferencing already available in its Smart Office suite to multiparty.

Delivering up WebRTC in a UC client is a great way to spur on-the-fly video chats... between two users. But if you want to support real-time video collaboration among a team of three or more, you need something beyond the point-to-point communications enabled by that technology today.

Ideally, that something not only will support multiparty video collaboration in real time, but also do so in a way that optimizes the quality of the experience for every participant. Neither device type -- desktop or mobile -- nor bandwidth should be a factor for any one individual in a video collaboration session.

Early last year, Genband led the way into WebRTC-enabled UC with its Smart Office 2.0 client release. Now it's extending the Smart Office one-to-one video capabilities into full collaboration mode, thanks to a partnership with video communications platform provider Vidyo.

Late last week, Genband and Vidyo announced the integration of the VidyoWorks software platform into Smart Office. In joining up with Vidyo, Genband becomes the latest in a large and growing contingent of communications and collaboration, customer engagement, workflow integration, custom app, and Internet of Things vendors using the VidyoWorks software platform to video-enable their offerings.

For Smart Office users, the integration provides the ability to move seamlessly from a two-party IM chat or phone call into a full collaboration session with screen sharing and video conferencing among multiple parties, said Carl Baptiste, SVP of enterprise solutions at Genband. While Smart Office features a WebRTC client, "we launch into a Vidyo-based Web client when we go multiparty. So it's dealing with the multiple bridging requirements for us, and the adaptive-rate technologies associated with that."

Users get this experience not only from within the Genband application environment but also from a softphone, which, as Baptiste said, allows the company to sell up to service providers. Two of Genband's service provider customers 5rtalready have a Vidyo-fueled collaboration service in limited availability today. One is NetFortris, which should go live with its service this summer, Baptiste said; the other is undisclosed, but also expects full service delivery later this summer, he added.

The VidyoWorks integration is in line with Genband's strategy of embedding communications capabilities within prevalent desktop applications and experiences, including Microsoft Lync/Skype for Business, Google Apps, and Salesforce. So, for example, Genband has a WebRTC-based integration between Lync and its own or other voice infrastructures. "So you can launch seamlessly from Lync IM and presence into collaboration," Baptiste said.

The collaboration experience is mobile, too, able to run on iOS and Android devices besides on PC and Mac clients.

In addition to the two service providers mentioned earlier, Genband intends to begin beta testing the Vidyo integration with a healthcare company and a large university prior to making the capability generally available in July, Baptiste said. "The software-only nature of the design allows us to achieve large cloud footprints and smaller ones, too, so it's easy to get into the enterprise," Baptiste said. "We're excited about the possibilities as we move forward with this relationship."

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