Video streaming on Microsoft Teams could soon be better than ever

Microsoft Teams
(Image credit: Microsoft)

As organizations prepare to implement hybrid work policies, live streaming has become a valuable tool to interact with their workforces which is why Microsoft has acquired Peer5 to improve the video streaming quality in Microsoft Teams.

In order to live stream large virtual events, organizations require reliable enterprise video streaming solutions as streaming high quality video can take up a lot of bandwidth. For this reason, many have turned to enterprise Content Delivery Networks (eCDN) to alleviate limited corporate network downlink bandwidth.

As Microsoft Teams has become the preferred online collaboration software of many businesses, organizations have started to ask the software giant for more integrated eCDN solutions to host their large-scale meetings and virtual events according to a new blog post from the company.

Now through its acquisition of Peer5, Microsoft will be able to help take the strain off of corporate networks while providing improved video streaming quality for meetings and events held in Teams.

Peer5 acquisition

Peer5 offers a WebRTC-based eCDN solution that runs in a user's browser to optimize bandwidth usage while also helping to mitigate the impact of video streaming to corporate networks and line of business (LOB) applications. The company also uses mesh networks that are self-balancing and automatically scale as the number of viewers increase.

In a separate blog post announcing the acquisition, co-founder and CEO of Peer 5, Hadar Weiss provided further insight on the advantages of WebRTC when it comes to streaming virtual events and large-scale meetings, saying:

“The beauty of WebRTC is that no installation is required. It is also advantageous from a privacy and security perspective as it runs in-browser. Peer5 is integrated together with the video player so it is enabled instantaneously for every employee within an enterprise. We push the envelope even further by adding logic and mechanisms that adjust to any device and any network without requiring any custom setup from the customer side.” 

While its acquisition of Peer 5 will allow Microsoft to provide a first-party eCDN offering to it customers, the software giant will also continue to support eCDN solutions from other Microsoft certified partners.

We'll likely hear more on how Peer 5's technology can bolster video streaming performance and quality in Teams once Microsoft finishes integrating it into its video conferencing software.

Anthony Spadafora

After working with the TechRadar Pro team for the last several years, Anthony is now the security and networking editor at Tom’s Guide where he covers everything from data breaches and ransomware gangs to the best way to cover your whole home or business with Wi-Fi. When not writing, you can find him tinkering with PCs and game consoles, managing cables and upgrading his smart home.