OREANDA-NEWS. NTT Communications Corporation (NTT Com), the ICT solutions and international communications business within the NTT Group, announced today the immediate start of a free trial for its "WebRTC Chat on Skyway" web application, which uses WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communications) technologies for browser-to-browser communication between devices in real time, the first such application in Japan.

The trial being conducted at NTT Com's web application platform, SkyWay WebRTC is a breakthrough technology that enables real-time point-to-point (P2P) communication for voice, video and data (ex. file) sharing between browsers of devices including PCs and smartphones. Since web servers are bypassed, the technology enables highly private communication for web services. It also helps to reduce operational costs for application and service developers and providers by minimizing server resources. Existing P2P communication requires a dedicated application in each device, but WebRTC only uses conventional browsers, so service development costs are relatively low. WebRTC is expected to be used widely in future applications.

WebRTC Chat's encrypted, server-free communication realizes high privacy and security. With respect to concerns that P2P services could be used for illegal data transfers, WebRTC technology stores the beginning and end of connection logs, so communication can be traced if necessary. NTT Com's trial will test this feature by compiling and managing communication logs.

Whereas existing video chat services with dedicated applications usually require user registration, NTT Com's WebRTC Chat can be used simply by accessing a dedicated website. Easy-to-understand images and sound effects strengthen the highly intuitive user experience of WebRTC Chat.

Considering that future WebRTC services will use redundant server systems and offer flexible expandability, the trial will be used to confirm system reliability and additional features that NTT Com is considering to add to SkyWay's WebRTC platform.