A startup built an innovative platform to provide seamless
telehealth services to patients and enable doctors to deliver
remote patient care with ease. At its core, the platform
utilized KMS (Kurento Media Server) to power its audio-video
communication features using WebRTC. KMS was a popular choice
for WebRTC communication at the time this development started
few years ago. However, the MCU (Multipoint Control Unit)
architecture of KMS necessitated hefty server configurations
to support concurrent conferences. As the demand for
concurrent sessions grew, the platform faced a challenge of
increasing cost per meeting with growing concurrency,
prompting the need to redesign.
Product Features
Replace MCU with SFU Strategies
ProCONF was able to quickly replace MCU with SFU
(Selective Forwarding Unit) strategies. Unlike
traditional MCU servers, SFUs distribute media
streams efficiently without the need for high end
server infrastructure. With the same hardware
configuration, SFU supported around 50+ meetings of
5 people as compared to 20 meetings on MCU.
Telehealth Features
ProCONF seamlessly supported all the standard audio
video conferencing features like audio/video calls,
moderator controls, live chat, call recording and
noise suppression which the platform used to offer
before.
Intelligent Auto Scaling
ProCONF offers intelligent and cost-effective auto
scaling thereby minimizing infrastructures cost and
at the same time providing required scalability.
Advanced AI Features
ProCONF, with its advanced AI capabilities,
streamlined the doctor-patient encounter process.
After each appointment, it automatically generated a
concise summary that doctors could review and add to
their Electronic Health Records (EHR) system.
Technical Challenges
-
Integrate ProCONF with existing system with
minimal changes
-
Support various platforms like Web Browsers,
native Android, and iOS applications
-
Keep platform HIPAA compliant even after replacing
KMS with ProCONF
Technologies Used
-
NodeJS used for Admin Dashboard development that
allowed controlling various feature including call
quality, bandwidth management, number of
participants etc.
-
ReactJS used for UI development that was
responsive to support various form factors
-
ReactNative was used for Android SDK to bridge the
WebRTC features in React and Java
-
Java was used for Android SDK native development
-
MySQL for CDR (Call Data Records) to track every
meeting, participants start/stop timings, total
meeting time etc.
- Lua – Configurations Management
Results
-
For running conferences on average load days, hefty
configurations were not necessary due to the efficient
use of SFU strategies.
-
Out-of-the-box and intelligent auto scaling resulted
in reduced infrastructure cost.
-
Doctors experienced reduced administrative burden,
enabling them to prioritize patient care.
Conclusion
SpringCT successfully integrated ProCONF with telehealth
platform solving its scalability challenges, improved
productivity using AI features and improved bottom-line by
reducing infrastructure costs.