WebRTC Video

Hybrid Chat supports WebRTC based video call over the WebRTC compatible web browsers without the need to install any additional software or plugins.  

How it works

1. In an ongoing chat conversation, the agent starts a WebRTC session for the customer.
2. A WebRTC URL is generated and shared in the conversation.
3. The agent and the customer joins the session on this URL.

WebRTC Streaming Architecture

Video chat is established on two or more client devices using the WebRTC protocol. The connection can be made using one of two modes. The first mode is peer-to-peer, meaning audio and video packets are streamed directly from client to client with UDP. However this only works as long as both machines have an IP address that is accessible by the public internet, and so this is not a recommended way to establish WebRTC connection for Enterprise applications. If publicly accessible IP addresses are not an option, like in this case where Hybrid chat is typically on the enterprise network, a WebRTC connection must be established over TCP using a TURN server.

A TURN server is required for NAT traversal of a WebRTC session. A TURN server is a mandatory component when WebRTC is enabled in Hybrid Chat. You can either use some cloud based TURN server such as: 

1. Xirsys
2. NUMB TURN Server by Viagenie

Or,

Hybrid chat also provides an option to locally setup a TURN server using Coturn, which is a free and open-source implementation of a TURN and STUN server for VoIP and WebRTC. For details, please refer to TURN Server Deployment Guide.

Limitations

Limitations

1. Screen sharing is not available at the moment.
2. Hybrid Chat does not yet record WebRTC sessions.
3. There are no reports available at the moment. The only thing that Hybrid Chat keeps track of is a WebRTC URL as part of the chat conversation history.