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Microsoft has announced that it will introduce a new CDN service aimed at businesses, centered on video streaming improvements.
The news follows the acquisition of eCDN (Enterprise Content Delivery Network) company Peer5 in August 2021 and the subsequent integration of the company’s service into the Teams video conferencing platform.
Microsoft likes to brag that many companies rely on Teams as their primary tool for digital, personal communications, although it recognizes that the heavy bandwidth can lead to less than ideal performance.
Microsoft eCDN is designed to let users “seamlessly and securely” stream live video content from around the world, according to the company’s blog (opens in new tab).
Microsoft eCDN
Microsoft hopes the improvements to business video conferencing will appeal to the large number of companies that have adopted hybrid work routines, with more employees resorting to working from home for at least part of the week.
The tech giant is keen to highlight the improved network reliability that would come from a company choosing to use its eCDN, which uses a mesh network to self-balance as the number of call participants increases.
It also says the tool will be easy to adopt with no additional installation on devices required, and that Peer5’s expertise combined with Microsoft Cloud and Office 365 compliance should mean it’s a “trusted solution.”
Microsoft eCDN is available for $0.50 per user per month in conjunction with an annual subscription, although some users have already expressed dissatisfaction that this is a paid extra, with one comment: “I’d like to see this as just part of the normal MS Teams license”.
TechRadar Pro Microsoft has asked for confirmation of pricing outside of the US.