Over the weekend at a conference of jQuery developers, the folks at Voxeo Labs launched a new technology that transforms “any Web browser” into a platform for SIP-based multimodal communications. Dubbed the PhonoSDK, and described here, the idea is to put a free, downloadable resource that will enable a broad set of developers to transform any device running a browser embed a SIP softphone that can also control the resources in call processing and speech processing “clouds” like Voxeo, Tropo or Teleku (all Voxeo properties).

The tools are available for download here. The SDK ships with sample code that provide “how tos” for originating phone calls or IM-based chat. Registration also entitles a user to log on to the Tropo platform which, in turn, will enable the user to associate a real phone number (local or toll-free) to his or her softphone and to create apps that are enabled with voice processing, SMS, IM and Twitter. Chris Matthieu provides a 3 1/2 minute demo of the app here.

The folks at Voxeo are already working with the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) to ensure that microphone controls are embedded in the specification for HTML5. In the mean time, here’s a link to the PhonoSDK online forum where you can witness the democratization of RC development in action.

Categories: Articles

Tags: W3C, Voice Mashups, Tropo, HTML5, Recombinant Communications, IP-based telephony, Voxeo