Ericsson testing the boundaries of HTML5

SANTA CLARA --The knock on HTML5 is that browser-based technologies don’t have the oomph to stack up to their more robust natively developed counterparts. But Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) developers hope to change that perception. At the Ericsson Business Innovation Forum in Silicon Valley this week, Ericsson demoed a prototype browser that supports real-time audio and video, technologies that eventually could be used to run video chat and video conferencing programs straight out of the PC and smartphone browsers.

Ericsson head of services and software research Martin Körling said Ericsson doesn’t necessarily want to be in the browser business, but it is working with browser developers Mozilla, Opera and the Webkit Open Source Project to get the technology included in future Web standards.

Streaming and video and audio are key capabilities of most PC and mobile browsers today and many of them even support rudimentary video chat features. But to build a sophisticated mobile video communications solution, developers build their apps directly over the native OS. In the case of enterprise-class video conference providers like Polycom, they go one step further, working with the device manufacturers (CP: Motorola to embed Polycom telepresence in Xoom).

Körling acknowledged that there always be a lag for HTML5 in delivering new cutting-edge features, but that doesn’t mean HTML5 is incapable of delivering the performance and features of the native OS. Today’s innovation tends to become the common technology of a few years hence, and Ericsson wants to help ensure that HTML5 keeps up its pace behind native development, Körling said. The sooner a native capability is introduced into HTML5 the sooner a broader range of developers can make use of it, he said.

“In any certain time snapshot, you can always build a more optimized app natively,” Körling said. “A lot of innovation doesn’t need to be that optimized.”

Ericsson may seem an odd one to be working on browser standards, given its pedigree in big iron telecom infrastructure, but Körling said browser development fits well with Ericsson’s key mission of supporting its carrier customers. Wireless operators have taken up HTML5 as a means of creating a cross-platform, cross-carrier development platform and Ericsson is fully behind such operator initiatives as the Wholesale Application Community (WAC).

But Körling said Ericsson isn’t playing sides. It’s contributing to Android and other open-source development platforms equally. Ericsson’s goal isn’t to push one platform over another, but to ensure that the wireless and telecom industries’ voices are heard in all development initiatives. Ericsson wants to bring network application programming interfaces (APIs) to the equation so any mobile OS or runtime can access carrier services and networks as well as core features of the devices they run on, Körling said.