Stream Video Sharing Service in Preview

Microsoft Stream, a Microsoft-hosted video hosting and sharing service for business users, is available in preview. Stream has a browser-based interface that may make video content easier to find, tag, and share than Office 365 Video. The Stream roadmap promises further improvements, such as administrative controls, a development API, and live streaming, before it reaches general availability, probably in early 2017.

Successor to Office 365 Video

Stream will replace the existing Office 365 Video service, probably in early 2017, although the service is not limited to active Office 365 subscribers. Stream and Video both use Azure Media Services to store, process, and deliver content. Stream content storage does not count against an Office 365 customer’s SharePoint Online pooled storage, which could reduce cost and simplify storage administration.

Users can sign up for the Stream preview with their Azure Active Directory organizational accounts. Because the preview of Stream does not offer service level agreements and features may change, Microsoft advises Office 365 customers to continue to use Video until Stream reaches general availability, when existing Video content will be migrated to Stream. As with other browser-based offerings, organizations looking to block access to Microsoft Stream will have to change firewall settings.