Microsoft Introduces eCDN Solution Allowing More Participants to Join Live Streams at Corporate Scale
Microsoft announced the Microsoft eCDN (Enterprise Content Delivery Network), which is intended for organizations that rely heavily on Teams for their daily meetings. It can increase the current number of participants who can join live streams, making it possible to hold company-wide meetings with many participants without connection and security issues.
The eCDN is a product of Microsoft's acquisition of Peer5, an Israeli startup the company bought last year. Peer5 developed the technology, which is a WebRTC-based solution that "leverages peer-to-peer streaming technology".
Due to its capacity, Microsoft eCDN may contain millions attendees simultaneously without overloading the corporate network or encountering issues with streaming video quality, security, and privacy. Additionally, in addition to the promised practical adoption, the eCDN solution works with other HLS-based third-party video platforms. It also does not require additional installation processes on user endpoints and devices or changes to the physical network infrastructure.
According to Microsoft, the powerful technology will benefit organizations in different scenarios involving a large number of audiences from different places around the world.
“With Microsoft eCDN, organizations can securely live stream global meetings, all hands and town halls, and distribute company-wide training,” said Amber Waisanen of Microsoft Teams. "As hybrid and remote working has increased the need to stay connected and engage with employees around the world, many organizations are using Microsoft Teams as their primary platform for video communications and collaboration, creating a strong bandwidth load on the corporate network. Microsoft eCDN is designed to improve network reliability, reduce network saturation, and provide secure, high-quality, large-scale live video streaming with optimized network performance directly within Teams Live Events.
Unfortunately, it's coming as a standalone offering instead of being part of Microsoft's current Teams services. It costs $0,50 per user per month with an annual subscription and can be obtained through the Microsoft 365 IT admin center or various Microsoft Cloud partners.
