
WebRTC Finally Lands on Edge
It has finally happened! Microsoft’s web browser Edge has added full support for webRTC, the technology used by P2P CDN.
After being announced around a year ago, the stable release of Edge 79 has been made available, and it brings a major change. It has been built on the Chromium open source project making it more compatible, easing the lives of web developers by reducing the fragmentation in the web browser landscape. In this new version a key feature is being introduced that was previously not a functional part in full of the now legacy version of Edge, WebRTC.
This is of great significance, as the technology is used in many different applications such as videoconferencing, chat rooms, or even online gaming, but most importantly it is the base of P2P CDNs. This is excellent news for our customers, and for ourselves at Teltoo. Our customers’ viewers are now able to take advantage of the benefits of our P2P CDN while using the Edge browser, without needing to make any changes to their player integration or modify any parameters in their control panel.
Our CDN Offload technology creates as many edge caching points as viewers watching your stream. Each viewer can potentially become a node that will help deliver your live video segments. This is done at the player level using webRTC, a technology part of web browsers. It allows for different spectators to share the video segments, reduce the load and bandwidth consumption of your CDN or origin server and at the same time improve their playback experience quality. Now Edge users will be able to be part of and benefit from the P2P network.
The update has also opened a new door to our enterprise customers thanks to the new Internet Explorer mode. Companies will be able to update their enterprise environments to this new browser and maintain compatibility with their IE optimized web portals. They will be able to take advantage of the security, performance, and utility features of the new Edge while being able to seamlessly use their systems.
With this new feature eCDN can reach a new frontier. The distribution of video of corporate events, training, or announcements through our P2P network will now be possible to achieve without complications. You’ll be able to reduce network congestion and the need for high bandwidth infrastructure without having to use another browser for just these events. Integrating Teltoo on your environment has become much simpler.
This new update by Microsoft opens a new chapter not only for webRTC users, but for many more. It has brought the web community closer with more of the stronger players contributing and working under the same project. During the following months it will be gradually rolled out to consumers through regular Windows 10 updates. The new desktop browser is available to download now for Windows and macOS.
About the author
José is part of the Teltoo team, whose software-only decentralized video delivery technology helps live-streaming providers to improve quality and optimize delivery costs.