- New technology deployed by Microsoft to ensure high-quality video streaming in Israeli streaming firm Peer5.
- Peer5 was founded in 2012 by Israeli entrepreneurs Hadar Weiss, Guy Paskar, and Shachar Zohar which was acquired by Microsoft in 2021.
- Microsoft currently operates development centers in Haifa, Tel Aviv, and inaugurated a 46,000-square-meter campus for its R&D in Israel.
A year after acquiring Israeli streaming giant Peer5, Microsoft has launched new technology based on the company’s developments to roll out high-quality video streaming in large-scale live broadcasts. The tech, developed at Microsoft’s main R&D center in the coastal city of Herzliya, will be integrated into Teams, the tech giant’s business communications platform and its answer to Zoom and Slack, both of which soared in popularity at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Evolution through upgrades
In January, Microsoft officials said Teams had surpassed 270 million monthly active users which is an exponential increase from pre pandemic period. Microsoft Israel said in a statement that Peer5’s tech will help to significantly improve the quality of video streaming in large-scale live broadcasts without overloading networks and allow organizations to hold streaming events for millions of users simultaneously.
After being founded in 2012, Peer5 went on to offer an enterprise content delivery network (eCDN) that runs in-browser to optimize bandwidth usage. Co-founder Weiss explained in a post ,“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.”. The new technology reduces network saturation and delivers secure, high-quality, large-scale live video streaming. Weiss further added that “It is designed to enable organizations to seamlessly and securely live stream global meetings, town halls, and distribute company-wide training…”
The Road Ahead
As of the end of 2020, Microsoft employed an estimated 2,300 people in Israel — 2,000 of them in R&D, working on projects including cybersecurity, AI technologies, big data and healthcare. Some 300 people work in sales and marketing. The company said it has seen substantial growth in 2020 and 2021 across its development centers and hopes to add more than 2,500 engineers and other roles in the coming years to make up a local workforce of over 4,500 people.
The five planned sites include a second location in Tel Aviv that will house over 1,000 employees along with space of about 17,000 square meters adjacent to the Herzliya site for 1,000 more employees. Two new development sites are set to open next year in Beersheba and Jerusalem. The location of the fifth site is still under consideration and will take into account key factors such as workforce diversity, commute etc. With this Microsoft is looking to skyrocket its business and outshine competitors.
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Source: TimesofIsrael
