August 2022 Summaries

Video conferencing has become an essential part of daily life due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with businesses and individuals using video-enabled communication services for various purposes. This article provides a comprehensive buying guide for choosing the best video SDKs based on features & functionality, compliance & security, support, and pricing. It compares Agora, Twilio, Jitsi (JaaS), Zoom, and 100ms in terms of these parameters, offering detailed information to help decision-makers make an informed choice.

This article compares the pricing policies of five audio-video infra providers: Agora, Twilio, Jitsi (JaaS), Zoom, and 100ms. The three pricing models examined are charged on basis of usage, per user (MAU), and per host. Agora charges based on the number of minutes used, the number of users, and the unit price. Twilio offers two SDKs: a Video SDK priced on a usage basis and a Meeting SDK charged on a per-user basis. Jitsi users are charged on a per-user model (MAU). Zoom offers two SDKs: a Video SDK charged on a usage basis and a Meeting SDK charged on a per-user basis. 100ms pricing scales with the number of users and minutes in a meeting or a stream, offering free minutes for video conferencing and streaming.

Navigating the Video Call API Landscape: Compliance & Security In today's digital world, data security is a paramount concern. As data breaches become more frequent, it becomes essential to evaluate vendors based on their IT security fabric and compliance certifications. This article delves into various aspects of video call API providers' security frameworks and compliance certifications. Key Compliance Standards: 1. SOC 2 Type I & II: These reports assess the nature of an organization's security processes and controls at a specific point in time or over a certain period, respectively. They are significant markers for data protection in SaaS, cloud computing organizations, and IT-first providers. 2. GDPR: This European Union regulation lays out meticulous privacy and security standards for businesses worldwide that work with or accumulate data from EU citizens. 3. HIPAA: A US federal law sets national standards to safeguard sensitive patient data from being disclosed without consent/knowledge. 4. ISO/IEC 27001: This international standard defines a set of requirements for information security management, ensuring secure handling of assets like intellectual property, financial data, and employee information. 5. CCPA: This California law secures privacy rights for consumers by giving them greater control over the information businesses may collect about them. 6. COPPA: This American federal law enforced by the Federal Trade Commission applies to websites and online services that intentionally collect personal information of children younger than 13 years of age. Key Security Features: 1. Access Control: The SDK must have an in-built ability to restrict who has access to active meeting rooms and the admin dashboard. Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) is also a priority, allowing customers to restrict dashboard access based on an individual's role within the organization. 2. Enterprise Authentication: Enterprise authentication mechanisms like SSO/SAML cut down on operational overhead by centrally managing user credentials. 3. End-to-End Encryption (E2E Encryption): E2E encryption ensures that only the sender and intended receiver(s) can access data in a communication channel, protecting it from hackers, unwanted third parties, or even the audio-video service used to communicate said data. 4. Privacy of Recordings: Online meetings and calls are often recorded with a recording feature provided by the vendor. If stored on the vendor's cloud, the recordings must be private and inaccessible to anyone but authorized personnel. 5. Audit Trails: Audit trails track and present a record of all system and user activity so that any changes to app operations are captured and viewable by relevant administrators. This article provides an overview of various video call API providers' security compliance standards and features, helping prospective customers make informed decisions based on their data protection needs.

Integrating live audio and video into applications can be challenging, especially when dealing with different tech stacks and varying engineering bandwidths. To overcome these challenges, it is crucial to have reliable vendor support both before and after integration. This article explores the support plans of Agora, Twilio, Jitsi (JaaS), Zoom, and 100ms, highlighting their access to Technical Account Managers (TAMs) or Customer Success Engineers (CS engineers), SLAs, channels for support, and community support. The cost of additional support should be factored into the total cost of ownership when choosing an audio/video SDK.

This article compares five audio-video SDKs (Agora, Twilio, Jitsi as a Service, Zoom, and 100ms) in terms of features that matter to app developers. The features are organized into core capabilities, interactive features, and audio-video features. Agora, Twilio & 100ms provide a solid balance of these features with most being built or enabled with minimal dev work. JaaS offers most features but may require some development effort for specific functions. The Zoom Video SDK is still evolving and not as feature-rich as the Meeting SDK, while the Meeting SDK provides all major features but places restrictions on customization.

WebRTC is a protocol that enables real-time communication between browsers and apps without requiring any third-party software. It can be used for capturing and streaming audio and video over the internet, as well as exchanging arbitrary data between peers. This article discusses how to enable WebRTC as a WebView on Android, iOS, and Flutter platforms. The tutorial guides developers through setting up a 100ms project, creating new Android, iOS, and Flutter projects, and configuring the necessary permissions and settings for each platform. By using WebRTC in WebView, developers can easily replicate a website experience within a mobile app, making it quicker and easier to ship applications.