At the Ignite 2020 IT Pro conference this week, Microsoft representatives announced the company's plans to rebuild its Stream video service, making it the default video platform for all Microsoft 365 apps. Microsoft plans to migrate customers of the current Microsoft Stream service to the new Stream.
Microsoft launched the Stream video app in 2017, replacing the Office 365 video service. Stream is the service for creating, uploading, sharing, managing, and viewing corporate videos. In recent months, the use of Stream has really taken off. This is a result of remote working and distance learning due to the pandemic.
However, there have been many limitations surrounding the current Microsoft Stream, Microsoft representatives admitted at Ignite. The current Stream service is not consistent with the rest of Microsoft 365, in terms of architecture, channels, permissions , governance, sharing, and guest access . Stream currently feeds videos uploaded to Stream, but not the rest of Microsoft 365, such as SharePoint , Teams , and Office . Stream is essentially a silent product/service.
Microsoft’s new plan for Stream is to make it the primary video platform for all videos in Microsoft 365, whether those videos are created/viewed in Teams, SharePoint, Yammer, or another app. The new Stream will use SharePoint and OneDrive to store and manage all videos. Users will have the ability to create their own branded video portals in the new Stream or customize and integrate video with their own intranets.
As part of its new strategy , Microsoft is also developing a new Stream web app that will be integrated into office.com, the representatives said.
Before the end of this calendar year, Microsoft will deliver some of the pieces of the new roadmap . Teams Meeting recordings will be stored in OneDrive and SharePoint starting in Q4. The new Stream web app is likely to launch in Q2 2021.
Officials said they don't yet have a detailed timeline for the migration or when support for the existing Stream service will end. But they stressed that the migration will happen gradually, so users shouldn't worry.
