Microsoft Stream reaches general availability, bringing intelligence to enterprise video for customers worldwide

This post has been republished via RSS; it originally appeared at: The Official Microsoft Blog.

Video plays a vital role in how we communicate, share ideas and connect in meaningful ways. In the workplace, we rely on video to make our communications with others more impactful and to enhance the way we collaborate across geographies, enabling a more connected organization.

We believe that when individuals have access to innovative technologies, they are more empowered to succeed. Last year, we introduced the preview of Microsoft Stream, an enterprise video service that enhances collaboration and productivity for business users across an organization.

Today, we are excited to announce the general availability of Microsoft Stream and the new intelligent features that will enable greater productivity and user engagement with video.

Microsoft Stream provides a common destination for video management, with built-in intelligence features, deep integration across Office 365 and the IT management and security capabilities that businesses of all sizes require. It is available as a standalone application, or as part of Office 365 commercial plans. Microsoft Stream builds on the learnings from Office 365 Video to bring intelligence and deeper integration into Office 365 and beyond. Read more on Office Blogs.

Intuitive design for ease of use and increased participation: Now business users can enjoy a video experience at their workplace that delivers the polish and familiarity of a consumer video service.

  • Ability to upload, share and manage videos with just a few clicks.
  • Personalized home page with trending videos, followed channels and content that’s important to them.
  • Seamless viewing experience across devices and screens means never worrying about being able to access content.
Photo shows computer screen with personalized Stream homepage

Microsoft Stream puts every video at your fingertips so you can upload, share and manage videos from a common destination.

Intelligence features enhance learning and productivity: Everyone can quickly find the content that’s most important to them with new cognitive capabilities. With Microsoft Stream, all the audio in videos becomes searchable, so users can find videos even when they have little or no metadata or description. For even more engagement, faces that appear within the video are shown in a timeline below the video.

  • Transcribed audio becomes searchable text, so simply type in descriptive keywords and jump to any point in a video they are spoken.
  • Face detection enables viewers to see where each person in the video is shown throughout the video, with a clickable timeline indicating every place they appear.
  • Adding time codes in the comments section, text transcripts or table of contents, allows users to quickly get to a specific point in the video.
Photo of screen shows video on the left and transcript on the right with words highlighted

Face detection and speech-to-text can enhance productivity.

More ways to manage content permissions: Today we are announcing support for Microsoft Stream groups. These groups are based on Office 365 Groups, which means users can easily manage video permissions and make them available to selected groups – whether their team or others.

  • Teams can further organize content into channels within groups, offering even more flexibility.
  • Each group gets their own personalized page so the content shared is relevant to everyone in the group.

A richer experience for collaboration in Office 365: Increase engagement within your organization by integrating video into the applications used every day. We understand that people collaborate in multiple tools across their organization, and now, with Microsoft Stream’s pre-integration, you can seamlessly add videos and channels to collaboration apps like Microsoft Teams, SharePoint and Yammer. Office 365 customers already have access to Microsoft Stream, so they can start using video right away.

Photo of Stream SharePoint site

Add video into all your apps with seamless integration with Office 365 applications.

IT management backed by security you trust: Microsoft Stream uses built-in, industry-leading encryption and authenticated access to ensure videos are shared securely. Features that use existing organizational identity through Azure Active Directory and Office 365 Groups make security management simple. Additionally, administrators can add custom guidelines or optionally require employees to accept terms before they can begin to upload videos.

View the Microsoft Mechanics video to learn more.

Start using Microsoft Stream today

If you are a current Office 365 customer, you can find Microsoft Stream in the Office app launcher, or visit the Microsoft Stream website to sign in. If you don’t have Office 365, you can try the Microsoft Stream standalone plan or start a free trial.

To learn more about Microsoft Stream, join our Ask Us Anything session on the Microsoft Tech Community on June 29, 2017, at 9 a.m. PT.

 

 

 

The post Microsoft Stream reaches general availability, bringing intelligence to enterprise video for customers worldwide appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog.

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