Google has released the source code for a technology that it hopes developers will use to embed real-time video and voice chat functionality in their Web applications.

Google acquired the technology, called WebRTC (Web Real Time Communication), when it purchased VoIP (Voice over IP) software developer Global IP Solutions in 2010, for approximately $68.2 million. The company said it would open source the technology early last month.

WebRTC is a set of voice and video signal processing technologies, which can be accessed by developers through HTML tags and JavaScript APIs (application programming interfaces).

Today, Internet audio and video chat services from companies such as Skype are chiefly proprietary, accessible through plug-ins and client downloads. Last month, Microsoft agreed to purchase Skype for $8.5 billion.

More: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9217207/