RTC has moved from a narrow track to a wider track, and gradually evolved from a technical capability into a standard, or even the infrastructure of the Internet. RTC has become a high-frequency buzzword mentioned alongside 5G, AI and other emerging technologies. The industry generally believes that RTC in the post-epidemic storm plays an important role in the application of various scenarios.
The reason is that RTC not only promotes the acceleration of the landing of existing scenes, but also combines with new equipment and new capabilities such as AR, VR and MR to enable more innovative scenes. For developers, how to choose RTC, the first question is: third party commercial RTC or based on open source WebRTC self-development? This article offers a few dimensions to think about to help you figure things out.
Consideration 1: Commercial RTC vendors promote the evolution of RTC technology
From the technical point of view, the development of RTC is combined with The Times. Early applications of RTC were mainly video conferencing, where users often had proprietary hardware and conducted it on a proprietary network. After entering the commercial 4G era, in the Internet scene, devices such as PC and mobile phone are uncontrollable, and the network is an unstable environment. Therefore, the previous RTC technology, which was based on equipment and proprietary network assurance, has undergone a very big evolution in the wide-area Internet era. For example, at the software level, the 3A algorithm needs to be rebuilt, including new algorithms for video capture and codec. At the level of global communication network architecture, edge computing nodes should be used reasonably to better connect the last kilometer.
RTC technology is adapting to the development and changes of The Times, which means that it is not simple knowledge from books, but has experienced a lot of practice, and has to step on countless pits in the development. Every innovation and progress in RTC technology carries the accumulated experience of R&D personnel in adapting to network changes and meeting the needs of different scenarios. These are the biggest reasons why commercial RTC vendors are increasingly being recognized by developers as they push RTC technology forward.
Ponder 2: Quality first? Or does price come first?
At present, there are both commercial third-party RTC manufacturers and self-research parties based on open source WebRTC in the market. For developers, while commercial RTC drives the overall development of RTC technology, there is also the problem of high cost.
For start-ups or developers with certain learning ability, they often choose open source WebRTC and become the self-research party. Open source WebRTC has obvious advantages and disadvantages. To enjoy its advantages, you have to accept its disadvantages. Its advantage is undoubtedly low cost in the short term, or even zero cost can be used. However, in the long term, with the growth of business volume, and the higher and higher requirements for real-time audio and video high-definition, low delay, no lag, open source WEBRTC is often difficult to meet.
When this happens, there is a need to migrate the replacement from open source WebRTC to third-party RTC vendors. As a result, developers need to re-familiarize themselves with hundreds of SDK interfaces or scene demos from third-party RTC manufacturers. If the business is in an uptrend period, there is also the risk of data storage loss in the process of migration and failure to ensure business continuity.
So, “Quality first? Still take the price as the first “, in the author seems to be a false proposition. With price as the first priority, self-developers who choose open source WebRTC will eventually turn to third-party RTC vendors. If a developer wants to run a future hot style App, the best option is to use a commercial third-party RTC vendor. The first-tier RTC manufacturers all have a professional R & D team of hundreds of people, and their technology is stable and mature. Some also build their own global communications networks, deploying multi-location data centers and hundreds of edge nodes to ensure robust underlying infrastructure.
At present, the first-tier RTC manufacturers in the market include PaaS cloud manufacturers such as Voice Network, Instant Construction and Rongyun, etc., which focus on the communication cloud track, as well as Internet giants such as Ali Cloud, Tencent Cloud and netease Yunxin, etc.
Think 3: Choose a third-party RTC vendor based on scenario-based demos and best practices
RTC technology is widely used in the Internet. For example, 1V1 teaching scene supporting one-to-one audio and video call, VR house viewing scene in online house viewing, chatting scene in 1V1 social communication; Support one-to-one audio and video chat, online KTV, live games, interactive small class; Telemedicine consultation and surgical teaching, and multi-person blind date are supported for multi-to-multi-audio and video calling.
Basically, the first-tier RTC vendors can support the above online education, pan-entertainment social, telemedicine and other scenarios. At this time, developers should consider their own project application scenarios, choose to provide scene Demo manufacturers, so that it is easy to quickly start, do not have to screen their own development modules suitable for the scene in hundreds of SDKs, can save a lot of development time. In addition to scenario-based demos, choosing a vendor that has the best practices for that scenario will often help you avoid the pitfalls.
At present, Xiaobian has learned that Rongyun’s communication cloud capability can enable hundreds of application scenarios such as online KTV, language chat room, multi-person dating, e-commerce live broadcast, remote consultation, surgical teaching and online education. Melts the cloud, for example, a customer to provide the bottom of the IM and real-time audio and video capability, through in-depth understanding of online education, help it to achieve the low latency of online education App live, whether it is a large class, small class class, or a one-on-one VIP class, flexible control of the air of participants, interaction between the instructor and students, not only to support high quality audio and video, At the same time, it also supports the functions of whiteboard, recording and broadcasting, etc. Such a first-tier RTC vendor can often become a priority for developers in different scenarios.
conclusion
RTC in the post-epidemic storm from an invisible thing, gradually become a hot area of concern for developers. According to the data from a technology website, more than 300,000 articles and videos related to RTC have been published, which have generated more than 3 billion readings and views. The single video interested in RTC has even received more than 700,000 page views.
Therefore, this article hopes to provide inspiration and reference for developers who are learning RTC technology, or are choosing RTC capabilities. Xiaobian has always believed that the commercial third party RTC is a more reliable, more stable and longer term choice for developers. In the selection, we should consider whether the first-line strength RTC manufacturers have scenario-based DEMO and the best practices of this scenario, so as to avoid detour and avoid pit.