Innovative Systems of Communication (ISC, Inc.), a Russian-based company, launched Flashphone.ru, a proof-of-concept Flash-based phone app which I discovered & reviewed back in November. More recently they launched a media server to go along with their Flash softphone application.

Well, ISC dropped me a line to tell me they have implemented video calls that allow Flash-to-SIP and from SIP-to-Flash video calls using their Zingaya Media Server. As you probably know, Flash-to-Flash video calls is nothing new, but Flash-to-SIP and the reverse is new. This platform marries the ubiquitousness of the Flash client on Windows/Mac/Linux with the ubiquitousness of the SIP standard and SIP gateways.

Thus, using a simple browser you can initiate a video call to a video client such as X-Lite or even (in theory) a hardphone videophone device such as the Packet8 videophone. The Packet8 videophone supports H.263 and H.264, so in theory it should work. The latest version of Zingaya Media Server supports video calls to SIP softphones or hardphones with H.263 video codec support. I'd like to also see H.264 video support at some point. In addition to standards-based video calls you can also configure the Flash softphone to terminate over the PSTN using any SIP-based ITSP (Internet Telephony Service Provider).

According to the Flashphone blog, "We are going to include this new feature to Flashphone 2 and allow flashphone users make video calls between each other and to external SIP soft/hardphones. Just think about that video calling without software installation and without endless list of software settings!"

Here's a screenshot showing video calls from the popular X-lite SIP application to their Flash application and back:


Update: 11:25am
Ironically, a few hours later, I saw this news announcement made on TMCnet.com stating that "ANDROME Launches the Intellivic Flash-to-SIP Gateway, a New Hi-Tech Solution to Bridge Flash and SIP". It espouses my same thoughts about bridging Flash & SIP.

Here's an excerpt:

Today, the majority of computers across the globe are Adobe Flash enabled
which has caused many new internet video applications to flourish, thanks to
the non-exclusive nature of Flash for its end-users. The Intellivic
Flash-to-SIP Gateway is building upon this reality to allow application
developers to incorporate video telephony more freely into their Flash
enabled web applications.

"The Intellivic Flash-to-SIP Gateway also bridges a gap between the
traditional telecoms environment with SIP and IMS based networks and
end-users who are using Flash enabled web applications," adds Raf Van Ham.

Applications that benefit from using the Intellivic Flash-to-SIP Gateway
lie in the areas of professional consultancy services, call centers, remote
medical assistance, home or office surveillance, e-learning and entertainment.