Microsoft has announced that it will introduce a new CDN service aimed at businesses, with video streaming enhancements taking center stage.
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 is willing to brag that many businesses rely on Teams as their primary tool for face-to-face digital communications, though it acknowledges that high bandwidth could result in less than ideal performance.
Microsoft eCDN is designed to allow users to securely stream live video content from around the world, according to the company's blog (opens in a new tab).
Microsoft eCDN
Microsoft hopes improvements to business video conferencing will appeal to the large number of companies that have embraced hybrid work routines, with more employees turning to working from home for at least part of the week.
The tech giant wants to point out the increased network reliability that would come from a business that chooses to use its eCDN, which uses a mesh network to self-balance as the number of call participants grows.
He also says the tool will be easy to adopt as no additional installation is required on devices, 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 when combined with an annual subscription, although some users have already expressed their dissatisfaction that it's a paid add-on, with a comment: "I'd like to see this as part of normal teams from MS. license".
TechRadar Pro asked Microsoft to confirm pricing outside of the US.