Singapore's Temasys Shows Off Browser-Based Videoconferencing

Singapore’s Temasys Communications has pioneered a new wrinkle in video conferencing, geared at reducing the barriers to mass-market adoption presented by proprietary approaches. It has demonstrated a multiparty video conferencing platform that leverages WebRTC to enable videoconferencing via any browser. Users simply click “See”, “Call” or “Chat” to open a conference session.

The Temasys platform requires no special software, hardware, applications, tools or knowledge to use, the company said, and it doesn’t require a Flash plug-in. It offers full GoogleID and OpenId support, presence information and direct conference invitations for users who are logged in.

In a demonstration at Temasys Labs, a URL was entered into a browser to connect to the Video With TLC website. Two clicks later, a video conference and chat connection was made to a participant in Boston and three from Singapore. For good measure, the Temasys Logo became a “participant” via another computer. Each user could also simultaneously use private chat between each other or with the group.

The consumer service is in the process of rolling out, and Temasys expects to launch a version for businesses by the second quarter next year.

“A seismic shift in communications is underway, a tsunami of change, has taken place and Temasys has beaten many giants of the industry to stake the high ground,” said Bill Lewis, MD at the company. “The applications that will emerge using this technology are boundless and we are proud to be the first company to be able to put this multiparty WebRTC communication technology into the hands of everyday users and companies alike.”

 “The WebRTC part of HTML5 is one of the hottest topics around in the field of high tech today,” said Alex Gouaillard, Temasys’ CTO. “Since WebRTC really started to get momentum in the fall of 2012, the Silicon Valley development community and Tech VCs have been buzzing with news that companies are taking this latest technology seriously.”

He added, “While there have been many announcements of what I would term partial solutions, or limited application of WebRTC, we have taken the greatest leap in the development of the WebRTC so far. Multiparty visual communications, readily accessible via a publically accessible service, on a stable WebRTC platform, full GoogleID, OpenId support, presence information support and direct conference invitation for users logged in has not been achieved before today and there were considerable challenges which we overcame in moving the application of this great technology to a new level.”