Real-time communications (RTC) is continuing to grow in many new modes at an unprecedented rate, while also becoming richer with multimedia collaboration, and increasingly embedded into the applications we rely on every day at work and at play. Service providers are constantly seeking out the most efficient ways to modernize and streamline how they deliver a competitive experience to their consumer and business customers. Software is now – everywhere.

The relationship between the physical layers of what we used to refer to as the “Open Systems Interconnect” or OSI stack, and the software that kept these layers connected and “phone calls” traveling over them, is evolving communications. Service providers are moving from a “network-centric to software and cloud-centric” world where “Open Source” and network virtualization and software defined networks are now driving innovation, digital experiences, massive volumes of sessions and more profitable revenue growth. With high speed data able to traverse different network types to support even the richest applications, like live gaming and multi-party video chats, the physical layers required – including massive data centers – are being built and managed to withstand tremendous processing requirements.

From the Ground Up

Where will software be leveraged in tomorrow’s “hyper-converged” data centers, networks and cloud applications? Let’s take a look, all the way from data center management to applications development and analytics.
1. More efficient and sustainable data centers (DCIM)
2. More agile, cost effective and flexible networks (NFV/SDN)
3. More securely connected networks
4. More valuable services (workflow Real-Time Communications)
5. More creative applications and business models that are outcome oriented (SaaS, PaaS)
6. More intelligence and revenue streams (Big Data/Analytics)

Summary…

Up and down the stack, as we move more towards a web-telco way of supporting the ongoing growth of RTC services, it’s more important than ever to think ahead to software everywhere – transform your networks – transform your services – and transform your delivery platforms. The end result undoubtedly would be agile, innovative and productive services for end consumers combined with efficient and sustainable approaches.