Microsoft Azure Communication Service
Azure Communication Services are cloud-based services that you may use to incorporate communication into your applications. They come with REST APIs and client library SDKs. You don’t need to be an expert in underlying technologies like video encoding or telephony to add communication to your applications. The Azure Communication Service is accessible through both Azure for the government and multiple Azure geographies.
Different communication formats are supported by Azure Communication Services:
1. Voice and Video Calling
2. Rich Text Chat
3. SMS
4. Email
The public switched telephone network (PSTN), customized client applications, and customized services can all be integrated into your communications experience. By using the REST APIs, SDKs, or the Azure portal, you can immediately obtain phone numbers that you can then use for SMS or calling applications, or you can simply incorporate email functionality into your applications using production-ready email SDKs. You can connect your own PSTN carriers and bring your own phone numbers to Azure Communication Services direct routing by using SIP and session boundary controllers.
Azure Communication Services client libraries are accessible for a variety of platforms and languages, including Web browsers (JavaScript), iOS (Swift), Android (Java), and Windows, in addition to REST APIs (.NET). A UI library helps hasten the creation of mobile, web, and iOS applications. You have control over how end users are recognized and authenticated thanks to Azure Communication Services’ independence from identity.
Scenarios for Azure Communication Services include:
Customer-to-Business (B2C). Using voice, video, and text chat in browsers and native apps, employees and services interact with external customers. A phone number you obtain through Azure can be used by an organization to send and receive SMS messages or run an interactive voice response (IVR) system. Customers can be linked to Teams meetings held by staff using integration with Microsoft Teams; this is particularly useful in remote healthcare, banking, and product support contexts where employees may already be familiar with Teams.
Customer to Customer (C2C). Voice, video, and rich text chat can be used to create compelling consumer-to-consumer interactions. Any kind of user interface can be created using the Azure Communication Services SDKs, or you can jump right in with ready-made application samples and an open-source UI toolkit.
Check out the resources listed below or our Microsoft Mechanics video to learn more.
Common scenarios of Azure Communication
Create a Communication Services resource
Use the Azure portal or the Communication Services SDK to provision your first Communication Services resource to start using Azure Communication Services. You can provision your first set of user access tokens once you have your Communication Services resource connection string.
For more details
Get a phone number
To provision and release phone numbers, use Azure Communication Services. You can create SMS solutions and place or receive calls using these phone numbers.
For more details
Send an SMS from your app
Services for Azure Communication SMS REST APIs and SDKs are used by service applications to send and receive SMS messages.
For more details
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/communication-services/quickstarts/sms/send?tabs=windows
Send an Email from your app
Services for Azure Communication Email messages are sent from service apps using email REST APIs and SDKs.
For more details
After creating a Communication Services resource, you can start building client scenarios, such as voice and video calling or text chat:
Create your first user access token
Clients are authenticated against your Azure Communication Services resource using user access tokens. The Communication Services Identity APIs and SDKs are used to supply and reissue these tokens.
For more details
Get started with voice and video calling
Using the Calling SDK provided by Azure Communication Services, you can integrate audio and video calling into your browser or native apps.
For more details
Add telephony calling to your app
Your application can now support phone calls thanks to Azure Communication Services.
For more details
Join your calling app for a Teams meeting
Microsoft Teams may be integrated with Azure Communication Services to provide unique meeting experiences. Participants in Teams can communicate with users of your Communication Services solution(s) via voice, video, chat, and screen sharing.
For more details
Get started with chat
Rich real-time text chat may be incorporated into your apps using the Chat SDK for Azure Communication Services.
For more details
Connect a Microsoft Bot to a phone number
In the Microsoft Bot Framework, a telephone channel allows the bot to communicate with users over the phone. It makes use of the capabilities of Azure Communication Services, Azure Speech Services, and Microsoft Bot Framework.
For more details
https://github.com/microsoft/botframework-telephony
Add visual communication experiences
You can quickly add rich, visual calling and chatting experiences to your applications using the UI Library for Azure Communication Services.
For more details
https://azure.github.io/communication-ui-library/
Platforms and SDK libraries
The resources listed below can help you learn more about the Azure Communication Services SDKs. If you want to create your own clients or use another method to access the service via the Internet, REST APIs are available for the majority of functionality.
SDK libraries and REST APIs
The capabilities of Azure Communication Services are conceptually divided into six categories, each of which is represented by an SDK. Based on your requirements for real-time communication, you can select the SDK libraries you want to employ.
For More Details
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/communication-services/concepts/sdk-options
Calling SDK overview
Review the Communication Services Calling SDK overview.
For more details
Chat SDK overview
Review the Communication Services Chat SDK overview.
For More Details
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/communication-services/concepts/chat/sdk-features
SMS SDK overview
Review the Communication Services SMS SDK overview.
For more details
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/communication-services/concepts/sms/sdk-features
Email SDK overview
Review the Communication Services SMS SDK overview.
For more details
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/communication-services/concepts/email/sdk-features
UI Library overview
Review the UI Library for the Communication Services
For More Details
https://azure.github.io/communication-ui-library/?path=/story/overview--page
Design resources
The UI Library Design Kit for Figma contains thorough components, composites, and UX advice. This design tool was created specifically to make it easier and faster to create your video calling and chat experiences.
Other Microsoft Communication Services
You may think about using one of the following two Microsoft communication products that are not currently directly compatible with Communication Services:
Organizations can create communication experiences linked to Azure Active Directory users with Microsoft 365 licenses by using the Microsoft Graph Cloud Communication APIs. This is perfect if you wish to expand Microsoft Teams’ productivity capabilities or use applications that are connected to Azure Active Directory. Additionally, the Teams experience may be customized and built via APIs.
Adding low-latency chat and data connection to games is made simple by Azure PlayFab Party. PlayFab is a specialized alternative that is free on Xbox, while Communication Services can power gaming chat and networking services.
Conclusion
Real-time communication capabilities for apps are provided by Microsoft Azure Communication Services, a fully managed cloud-based communication platform. It enables developers to include chat, audio, and video functionality without having to handle the supporting infrastructure. Customer support, medical, gaming, and other uses for Azure Communication Services are just a few examples. It is simple to incorporate into current applications because it supports WebRTC, SIP, and REST APIs.
