Microsoft announces Azure Communication Services. Using Teams as its base, ACS is a new communication platform that integrates multiple forms of technology.
Last week, Microsoft announced a new set of features for it’s cloud customers. Using the Microsoft Teams platform as its base, Azure Communication Services (ACS) gives developers a way to add voice and video calling, chat and text messaging, as well as old-school telephony to their apps. Developed in response to the way doing business has changed since the world went remote. Microsoft describes it as the “first fully managed communication platform offering from a major cloud provider.”
In his announcement, Scott Van Vliet, Corporate Vice President for Intelligent Communication at Microsoft, wrote:
“Azure Communication Services is built natively on top a global, reliable cloud—Azure. Businesses can confidently build and deploy on the same low latency global communication network used by Microsoft Teams to support over 5 billion meeting minutes in a single day. It also enables developers to easily tap into other Azure services, such as Azure Cognitive Services for translation, sentiment analysis and more. Additionally, companies benefit from all communications being encrypted to meet privacy and compliance needs, such as HIPAA and GDPR.”
Microsoft touts themselves as having more certifications than any other cloud provider, giving them the ability to attract customers from all sectors of business. With all of the recent cyber-attacks and privacy issues surfacing, having a service integration that’s already in compliance is huge.
Developers will access ACS and its capabilities through a set of new APIs and SDKs. The capabilities, as mentioned above, include voice and video calling with the ability to go back and forth between them, and chat. SMS messaging and provisioning phone numbers will be available starting in October. Phone numbers can be provided for in-bound and out-bound calls, existing numbers can be used or new ones requested, and they can be integrated with existing on-site equipment and carriers.
During a time when businesses are operating largely via virtual events, online ordering and remote work, Microsoft has taken Azure to a whole new level. No other major cloud provider offers a comprehensive communications service like this one, making Twilio (founded in 2008) it’s closest competition. Except that ACS has the backing of Microsoft, which claims to invest over $1 billion annually in cybersecurity research and development.
Van Vliet concludes the announcement, “Every day, we find a new challenge that changes customer, developer, and business needs. Our goal is to meet businesses where they are and provide solutions to help them be resilient and move their business forward in today’s market. We see rich communication experiences—enabled by voice, video, chat, and SMS—continuing to be an integral part in how businesses connect with their customers across devices and platforms. Azure Communication Services brings together the best of communication technology, development efficiency, cloud scale, and enterprise-grade security. So, businesses can start creating more meaningful customer interactions on a secure, global platform in days, not months.”
Microsoft has been leading the technology charge since 1975, so it’s not a huge surprise that they are the first to release service like this. Especially after their success with Teams, this makes sense. It’s a very similar service and is likely to make Azure customers incredibly happy. Only one thing remains to be seen with this service: price points. That will be a large factor in the success or failure of this product.