Microsoft Acquires Peer5

Microsoft has acquired a video platform to enhance live streaming on Microsoft Teams. Peer5 offers an Enterprise Content Delivery Network (eCDN), which can be used to allievate the stress on corporate networks during large virtual events.

Microsoft said that many of its customers have asked it for a more integrated eCDN over the course of the pandemic. “We’re excited to announce that we have acquired Peer5 to expand our ability for delivering secure, high-quality, large-scale live video streaming with optimized network performance in Teams.

“The technology does not require additional installation on user endpoints or changes to the physical network infrastructure.
“Additionally, the Peer5 solution will allow Microsoft to provide a first party offering to help customers streamline purchase process and customer support, improving their enterprise IT management experience.”

Peer5 – which was founded in 2012 and is based in Palo Alto – runs an WebRTC eCDN solution that runs in browser, which reduces the pressure on bandwidth and helps mitigate the impact on business networks. Its networks also automatically scale as the number of participants increases.

The firm counts a number of global companies as customers, according to its website, including Adobe, PwC, BMW and Deutsche Telekom. Its technology partners include Intrado and Google Meet.
Hadar Weiss, CEO of Peer5, said that its eCDN has powered events with as many as two million concurrent users.

“In the last few years we realized that our mesh networks are extremely valuable for enterprises who face last mile bandwidth issues within their corporate network,” he explained.

“When many employees stream at the same time, the network gets congested. This can happen during an all-hands meeting, a large training session or when everybody opens a link to a video that was just sent over email. Our technology solves this problem in the most efficient way possible, without changing the existing network infrastructure.

“We’re excited to partner with Microsoft and enable our eCDN solution for their many enterprise customers with a single mouse-click.”

Microsoft did not disclose the terms of the acquisition.