by admin | Nov 6, 2025 | Enterprise WebRTC, WebRTC
In today’s digital-first world, enterprises are increasingly looking to enhance their workflows with real-time video communication capabilities. Whether it’s for a cloud contact center, customer engagement, or internal collaboration, WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication) has emerged as the backbone for building custom video calling, conferencing, and live streaming applications. However, building a production-ready, enterprise-grade custom real-Time audio/video solution using WebRTC is no small feat. It requires careful planning, technical expertise, and a clear understanding of business needs.
Here are the top five points enterprises should consider before embarking on the journey of building and integrating a custom WebRTC application:
1. Define Business Use Cases and User Experience Requirements
Before diving into development, it’s crucial to outline the specific business use cases and the user experience (UX) goals. Are you building a customer-facing video support solution, an internal collaboration tool, or a live streaming platform for events? Each use case has distinct requirements for latency, resolution, and feature sets such as screen sharing, recording, or chat integration. Additionally, consider:
- Target audience and their technical proficiency.
- Device compatibility (web, mobile, and native applications).
- Regulatory requirements, such as HIPAA for healthcare or GDPR for customer data privacy.
A well-defined scope not only ensures a smoother development process but also aligns the solution with your business goals.
2. Ensure Scalability and Reliability
For enterprise-grade applications, scalability and reliability are non-negotiable. Video calls with hundreds of participants or live streams with thousands of viewers demand robust infrastructure. When planning your architecture:
- Opt for distributed servers and load balancers to handle peak traffic.
- Implement mechanisms to recover from failures, such as session restoration.
- Ensure low-latency media streaming for real-time interaction if it is a critical requirement for your application with techniques like media server cascading.
WebRTC itself doesn’t offer a signaling protocol—you’ll need to design or integrate one to manage session initiation, participant connection, and message exchange. Using standards like WebSocket or MQTT can provide the required reliability for signaling.
3. Optimize for Network Conditions and Bandwidth Management
Unstable network conditions can severely degrade the user experience in a real-time application. Enterprises should prioritize:
- Adaptive bitrate streaming to dynamically adjust video quality based on network bandwidth.
- Packet loss recovery techniques such as forward error correction (FEC).
- Configuring TURN (Traversal Using Relays around NAT) and STUN (Session Traversal Utilities for NAT) servers to ensure seamless peer-to-peer connections, even behind firewalls.
Testing the application across various network scenarios, including low bandwidth and high latency, is essential to delivering a consistent experience.
4. Incorporate Advanced Security Features
Security is a critical concern for enterprises, especially in industries like healthcare, finance, and government. WebRTC encrypts media streams by default using DTLS-SRTP, but additional measures should be considered:
- Implementing end-to-end encryption for sensitive communications.
- Using secure signaling channels (e.g., HTTPS and WSS).
- Regular security audits and compliance with standards such as ISO 27001.
Additionally, access control mechanisms, like token-based authentication, can prevent unauthorized use and ensure that only authenticated users can access the system.
5. Plan for Long-Term Maintenance and Updates
Building a custom WebRTC solution is not a one-time investment. As technologies and user needs evolve, so must your application. Enterprises should:
- Set up continuous monitoring and analytics to track performance and usage.
- Regularly update the application to address security vulnerabilities and incorporate new WebRTC standards.
- Invest in skilled developers who understand the nuances of WebRTC and its ecosystem.
Moreover, ensure your solution can integrate with other enterprise systems, such as CRM, ERP, or cloud contact center platforms, to provide a seamless workflow.
Alternatives to Building a Enterprise-Grade Custom Real-Time Audio/Video Solutions
While building a custom WebRTC application offers complete control and customization, it can be resource-intensive and time-consuming. For enterprises that want to fast-track implementation or lack in-house expertise, leveraging commercially available programmable video SDK solutions is a viable alternative. Vendors like Samvyo.com provide enterprise-grade APIs and SDKs that enable businesses to integrate video conferencing, live streaming, and real-time communication into their workflows without starting from scratch.
These solutions come pre-built with essential features like:
- Scalable infrastructure to handle high traffic.
- Pre-configured security and compliance mechanisms.
- Advanced analytics and monitoring tools.
Using a programmable video SDK not only reduces development time but also ensures a production-ready, reliable solution that can be tailored to your specific business needs. By partnering with trusted providers, enterprises can focus on delivering value to their users rather than managing the complexities of WebRTC development.
Final Thoughts
Enterprises looking to integrate real-time video communication into their workflows have a strategic decision to make: build a custom solution or leverage a programmable video SDK. While custom development offers unparalleled flexibility, it demands significant investment in time, resources, and expertise. On the other hand, commercially available SDKs from providers like Samvyo.com offer a faster and more cost-effective path to integration, enabling enterprises to stay agile in a competitive market.
Ultimately, the choice depends on your organization’s priorities, resources, and long-term vision. Whether you opt for a custom-built WebRTC application or a ready-to-use SDK, the key is to align the solution with your business objectives and deliver a seamless, secure, and scalable user experience.
If you are an Enterprise looking for professional help for your planning process before venturing out to building Enterprise-Grade Custom Real-Time Audio/Video solutions for integrating to some of your critical business workflows, feel free to drop us an email at hello@centedge.io for a free 30mins strategic discussion session for diving deep into your requirement to provide you with the correct ingredients required to realize your requirement without time and cost overruns. You can reach out to us using this link as well.
by admin | Nov 6, 2025 | Embedded, Enterprise WebRTC, IOT, LibWebRTC, WebRTC
Introduction
As urbanization drives the construction of high-rise buildings, elevators have become an essential component of modern infrastructure. With millions relying on these systems daily, ensuring passenger safety has never been more critical. This white paper explores the evolution of safety elevators, current market dynamics, and how WebRTC technology can redefine safety standards by enabling real-time two-way video communication.
A Brief History of Safety Elevators
The invention of the safety elevator revolutionized urban architecture, enabling skyscrapers and high-rise buildings. Elisha Otis introduced the first safety elevator in 1852, a system that incorporated a fail-safe brake mechanism to prevent the elevator from plummeting in case of rope failure. Since then, elevators have become indispensable, evolving from simple manual controls to advanced automated systems equipped with state-of-the-art safety features.
The Growing Importance of Safety Elevators
With the rapid urbanization of cities worldwide, safety elevators have seen exponential growth. According to market reports, the global elevator market is expected to reach $135 billion by 2030, driven by increased high-rise construction and stricter safety regulations. As cities grow vertically, ensuring the safety of elevator passengers during emergencies has become a paramount concern for manufacturers and regulators alike.
Rethinking Elevator Safety: The Role of Two-Way Video Calling Systems
While traditional safety systems like alarms and emergency stop buttons have been effective, they often fall short in addressing real-time emergencies, such as medical crises or mechanical failures. Two-way video calling systems offer a transformative solution, enabling real-time communication between passengers and emergency response teams. This technology can bridge critical gaps in emergency response, providing instant visual and auditory information that aids faster and more effective rescue planning.
Current Emergency Response Technologies in Elevators
Most modern elevators are equipped with:
- Emergency intercoms for audio communication.
- Alarm buttons to alert building security.
- Automatic emergency braking systems for mechanical safety.
However, these legacy systems often lack the real-time visual context required for effective decision-making during complex emergencies.
WebRTC: Enhancing Safety with Real-Time Video Communication
WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication) introduces a paradigm shift by enabling high-quality, low-latency video and audio communication directly between elevator occupants and rescue teams. Its benefits include:
- Improved situational awareness through live video feeds.
- Faster response times as rescue teams receive real-time updates.
- Enhanced passenger confidence during emergencies.
Unlike traditional systems, WebRTC-based solutions operate efficiently without relying on centralized servers, ensuring robust performance even in challenging network conditions.
Challenges in Hardware Integration
Integrating a WebRTC-based video calling system into elevator hardware poses unique challenges:
- Limited CPU Power: Elevator control units typically run minimalistic Linux-based operating systems with low processing capabilities.
- Absence of Browsers: Many systems lack browser environments necessary for running WebRTC applications.
- Hardware Constraints: Limited support for video and audio processing, leading to potential performance bottlenecks.
Building a Native WebRTC Solution for hardware integrations
To overcome these challenges, Videoedge developed a highly optimized solution:
- Native libWebRTC Build: Custom-compiled WebRTC libraries for target hardware.
- C++ Application: Designed to leverage RTC peer connection objects for establishing calls.
- Media Capture: Implemented browser-equivalent getUserMedia functionalities for camera and microphone access.
- Rendering Layer: Utilized GStreamer and libgtk for efficient video/audio rendering.
- Hardware Acceleration: Exploited available GPU resources to offload processing tasks, minimizing CPU load.
- Multithreading: Distributed tasks across multiple threads to avoid bottlenecks and ensure smooth video and audio streams.
Beyond Elevators: Broader Industrial Applications
The same WebRTC-based capabilities can revolutionize workflows in:
- Industry 4.0: Real-time video monitoring of manufacturing processes.
- Advanced Automotive Use Cases: Video telematics for driver assistance and remote diagnostics.
- Other Industrial Scenarios: Enhanced safety and communication in mines, oil rigs, and remote construction sites.
Case Study: Revolutionizing Emergency Response for a Global Elevator Manufacturer
Centedge recently partnered with one of the world’s largest elevator manufacturers to design a cutting-edge emergency response system. By adhering to the principles outlined above, we successfully delivered a WebRTC-based two-way video calling system that:
- Operates seamlessly on low-powered hardware, a dual-core 900Mhz NXP IMX6 processor: This processor is responsible for the entire operation of the Elevator unit including its core Linux-based OS and the entire application layer built on top of the OS layer for smooth elevator operation. The mandate provided to us was to keep the CPU usage < 70% while running a crystal clear audio/video call along with all other elevator processes running. We were able to achieve the mandate while keeping the CPU usage at 62% while running a 2-way WebRTC-powered video call along with all other elevator processes.
- Provides crystal-clear video and audio streams for real-time communication: The goal was to achieve the best possible audio/ video quality while trying to keep the CPU utilization below 70%. With a lot of experimentation, we found, that 320X240 at 10fps is the sweet spot that provides a clear 2-way audio/video while keeping the overall CPU utilization at 62%.
- Meets rigorous safety and compliance standards: Rigorous testing was done on the actual production hardware under various scenarios to find out issues and fix them proactively.
This solution significantly reduced response times and enhanced the overall safety of elevator passengers.
Elevator Safety with WebRTC: Conclusion
As the demands for safety and real-time communication continue to grow, Centedge’s unique and custom WebRTC-based solutions are setting new standards for emergency response systems. Whether it’s elevators, industrial workflows, or advanced automotive applications, our technology is designed to adapt and excel in diverse environments. If your organization is looking to enhance safety and operational efficiency, let Centedge tailor a solution that meets your unique requirements.
If you are an Enterprise looking to build Enterprise-Grade Custom Real-Time Audio/Video solutions with hardware integrations for integrating into some of your critical business workflows, here is a link to the list of services we provide for Embedded/IOT integration use cases for WebRTC. Feel free to drop us an email at hello@centedge.io for a free 30mins strategic discussion session, if you feel a discussion with us would be an important starting point. This session would be exclusively for diving deep into your requirements to provide you with the correct ingredients required to realize your requirements without time and cost overruns. You can reach out to us using this link as well.
Feel free to take a look at the Videoedge Video API/SDK to speed up your development process without having to build the entire application from scratch. With Videoedge SDK, you get the entire backend ready to be deployed into multiple geographies across the world within a week’s time.
References:
Here is a blog we wrote some time ago on how to compile and build the native Libwebrtc for a target CPU type of ARM, responsible for enabling 2-way video calling natively on a hardware device without a dependency on browsers.
