Network Infrastructure WebrTC & SIP Telephony Usage is More Than the IMS Gateway BY KARL STAHL W ebRTC is an emerging IETF and W3C standard for high quality real-time communication in web browsers. It opens up for new ways of communication, where integration with telephony is one of many. Huge Savings With Web Click-To-Call 1-800 replacement Click-to-Call on websites is one of the obvi- ous ways of connecting to call centers using WebRTC in the browser. You find the toll-free 1-800 numbers (and others) at the website, so instead of reaching for a telephone and dialing the number, simply click and the browser connects you to the contact center. The WebRTC call can directly be gatewayed s Gateways between WebRTC and SIP (the protocol nowadays used for the telephony network) is an obvious component and seen by the IMS/VoLTE/RCS/Joyn multimedia telephony providers as a way to stretch their application-specific networks to Internet and OTT clients. However, more general and ex- tended WebRTC and SIP gateways open up for Internet and OTT telephony usage directly at the user end, both enterprise and private. t With a general, extended “Companion-type” of WebRTC & SIP gateway, the call center will save huge amounts by excluding the toll-free telephone line fees. The call is typically context-sensitive (knowing the user and where he clicked), with browser clients also for the call agents, video, chat and screen sharing is easily added. to the SIP trunk interface of the call center with its IVR and queues, without passing the costly telephone network. Instead of spend- ing four cents a minute for a toll-free number (used by 70 call agents at office hours) the call center will save $1 million dollars in telephone fees over a three-year period! A WebRTC-SIP IMS gateway brings Internet-connected (fixed, WiFi or 3G/4G/LTE OTT) soft clients into telephony and into mobile RCS/Joyn/IMS/VoLTE multimedia deployments. However, an extended and more general gateway (right part of the figure, called “Companion” by Ingate), also connected to the PBX and UC (unified communications) side, creates opportunities for many telephony-related usages, mobile, multimedia and cost-savings. 22 INTERNET TELEPHONY ® November 2015 Table of Contents Such website click-to-calls are typically context-sensitive and integrated with CRM functions. Further, with a WebRTC and SIP gateway, including an E-SBC and also offering WebRTC clients for the PBX or UC solution, the free click-to-calls may use video, messaging and screen sharing functionality far beyond the plain old telephony service. Such call center WebRTC usage is expected to explode when WebRTC becomes available in Microsoft’s and Apple’s browsers. Today these browsers need a plug-in – often based on code from Google’s Chrome, the most popular browser that along with Firefox already implements WebRTC. Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com