October 24, 2024
Comments Off on Vonage Video API: Key Updates from the Q4 2024 Roadmap Session

This week, our partner Vonage hosted its Q4 2024 Video API Roadmap and Q&A session, announcing recent and upcoming updates to enhance security, performance, and user experience on their Video API platform and SDKs. These changes benefit businesses aiming to improve their video communication capabilities.

In this post, we’ll highlight key updates and their impact on companies building with Vonage or improving their existing WebRTC applications. The event covered new features, platform and security enhancements, better monitoring tools, and a React/Node.js reference app for developers.

Let’s dive in.

Recently Launched Features

Enhanced Security

  • Upgraded Video Sessions Security Tokens: Moving from SHA-128 to SHA-256, providing stronger encryption and better compliance with regulatory requirements
  • Improved EU Proxy Security: Updated cipher list to remove outdated options and add stronger alternatives, ensuring better protection for European users
  • Certificate Updates: Preparation for transition to DigiCert G2 certificates in 2025, maintaining modern security standards. (Older versions will be phased out. Our team at WebRTC.ventures can help you migrate to the new standards!)

Better Video Quality

Enhanced Experience Composer

  • Improved video quality for corporate events and promotional content
  • 5-30% reduction in frame loss
  • 2-8 frames per second increase in output
  • Better handling of high-motion and high-detail content

VP9 Support

  • VP9 with Scalable Video Codec (SVC) support for routed sessions
  • Better video quality at similar bit rates
  • Improved network performance and resilience
  • Currently in early access, moving to public beta in Q4 2024

Improved Monitoring Tools

Advanced Insights Updates

  • Simplified session searching (no project ID required)
  • Enhanced filtering capabilities for location, browser, and media settings
  • New error code tracking coming in Q4

Inspector Enhancements

  • Added resolution and frame rate monitoring
  • Time zone selection options
  • SIP call quality metrics
  • Better status tracking for long sessions

SDK Improvements

  • Device Management: Better control over audio/video devices
  • React Native Support: Continued enhancement of cross-platform development capabilities
  • New Quality Events: Real-time monitoring of call quality and performance

Coming Q4 2024 – Q1 2025

Performance Improvements

Single Peer Connection: Subscribers will be able to receive remote streams in a single connection. Think of this as creating a highway instead of multiple small roads for your video traffic, resulting in:

  • Better bandwidth management
  • Improved video quality
  • Support for more participants, especially on mobile devices

New Features

Post-Call Transcription

  • Automatic transcription of video sessions
  • Perfect for education, healthcare, and legal sectors
  • Currently in early access, moving to beta in December

Global Expansion

New Regional Media Zones: Helps meet local compliance requirements, especially for healthcare and financial sectors

  • Singapore (December 2024)
  • Brazil (Q1 2025)

Vonage’s New React Reference App

In response to growing developer demand, Vonage is launching a new React reference application for their Video API. Set to release in December 2024, this open-source initiative aims to showcase best practices and accelerate development for teams building video communication solutions.

Why This Matters

If you’re a product owner or technical leader, this reference app provides two significant advantages:

  • Faster Time-to-Market: Your development team can use this as a foundation instead of building from scratch
  • Best Practices Built-in: Benefit from Vonage’s expertise in video communications, with optimized layouts and stream handling already implemented

The reference application comes packed with essential video communication features:

Core Functionality

  • Multi-participant video calls (up to 25 participants)
  • Screen sharing capabilities
  • Recording functionality
  • Publisher preview before joining
  • Participant list management

Advanced Features

  • Active speaker detection
  • Multiple view layouts (gallery view, speaker focus)
  • Resolution prioritization
  • Emoji support
  • Regional Media Zone (RMZ) support

User Experience Enhancements

  • Smart participant list management (automatic grouping when view space is limited)
  • Togglable participant lists
  • Intuitive emoji integration
  • Mobile web view optimizations (planned for version 1.1)

Technical Highlights

Architecture & Setup

  • Built on React.js with Node/Express backend
  • Can be deployed in under 5 minutes
  • Flexible deployment options:

Developer-Friendly Features

  • Full documentation available on GitHub
  • Complete source code access (frontend and backend)
  • Extensible architecture
  • Maintained by Vonage’s core Video API team

Vonage’s Continuing Dedication to Excellence

These updates demonstrate Vonage’s commitment to providing secure, high-quality, and scalable video communication solutions. For businesses looking to build or enhance their video communication applications, these improvements offer:

  • Stronger security and compliance capabilities
  • Better video quality and performance
  • Enhanced monitoring and troubleshooting tools
  • Improved global reach and local compliance options

Whether you’re in healthcare, education, finance, or any other sector requiring reliable video communication, these updates will help deliver better experiences to your users while maintaining the security and compliance standards your business needs.

WebRTC.ventures is a proud member of the Vonage Marketplace as an Integration Provider with deep expertise in numerous APIs such as the Video API, Voice API, Verify API, and the Messages API. Our team can take your idea — or your existing application — to the next level. Contact us today and let’s make it live!

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