OpenTok is a software application, developed by TokBox, that allows software developers to weave live video communication with their existing websites and applications. OpenTok’s WebRTC client libraries are essential for enabling video communications on a client platform and the WebRTC SDKs just make WebRTC easier.
OpenTok v1 was introduced as free open source software application. But now OpenTok is no longer completely free. There is a 30 day free trial available and during this time you can use it for unlimited minutes and can use archiving as much as you want.
OpenTok platform helping with WebRTC
TokBox released OpenTok on WebRTC in November 2012 for developers that brings high quality face-to-face video calling. As a developer you can use OpenTok to get advantage of WebRTC on laptop, desktops, iPad, iPhones or any other android smart phone. Using this technology your applications can freely interoperate across device and browser boundaries. it will make application faster and will deliver higher quality video. TokBox delivers the hosted infrastructure, API, SDKs, tools and advanced features to unlock potential of WebRTC live video, voice and messaging for business through the OpenTok platform.
Advantages of using OpenTok platform
- Ability to deploy with 10x fewer lines of code than WebRTC off- the shelf.
- Its intelligent technology dynamically adapts to deliver a high quality experience to end users.
- It provides native app libraries for iOS and Android mobiles.
- It supports multiway-calling and provides high-performance, scalable signaling layer.
- It offers centralized application management tools and is fully customizable.
OpenTok Architecture
OpenTok architecture is consists of client-side libraries (for JavaScript, Android and iOS) and the OpenTok server SDKs. The OpenTok API platform is based on three important concepts: streams, Connections and Sessions.
- A stream is a single audio-video signal, which includes a User’s published webcam and microphone feed.
- A connection is a logical abstraction of a single browser tab’s interaction with a session.The connection is a mechanism through which a browser publishes and subscribes to streams within a session.
- A session represents an entire video chat environment. It is a collection of connections publishing and subscribing to streams. At a higher level, one can think of a session as a virtual video chat room.
Client SDKs
The OpenTok Client SDKs are available for following platforms:
- OpenTok.js (for web developers, it allows you to use OpenTok powered video sessions on the web).
- Android (it allows you to use OpenTok powered video sessions in apps to be built for Android devices).
- iOS (it allows you to use OpenTok powered video sessions in apps to be built for iPad, iPhone and iPad touch devices).
Server SDKs
The OpenTok Server SDKs allows you to securely create OpenTok sessions, generate tokens and work with OpenTok archiving. The OpenTok server SDKs are available for the following languages:
- Java
- .NET
- Node.js
- PHP
- Python
- Ruby
Recent Update – Inspector: New Session Diagnostic Tool for OpenTok
TokBox announced the launch of new session diagnostic tool for OpenTok, Inspector, in July 2015. It provides a high level OpenTok session summary at a stream and user
level to help pinpoint errors, failures and quality issues. This tool enables the technical support team to glance through session data to determine whether an issue was caused by an application error, end-user error, network problem or OpenTok platform.
Team Krify has showcased the competency to develop web and mobile apps with audio/video calling features using OpenTok platform through its past projects. Our enthusiastic experts are all set to utilize all the features provided by the OpenTok platform to overcome the communication gap through this real time communication technology.
For detailed information about TokBox and its product, OpenTok, please visit: https://tokbox.com/
