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Videoconferencing gains popularity amid COVID-19 lockdown

Videoconferencing has become de rigueur for work and social life as people around the world hunker down at home to avoid spreading the deadly coronavirus.

Videoconferencing gains popularity amid COVID-19 lockdown

Microsoft's team sets record with 2.7 billion 'meeting minutes' in a day (Jeenah Moon/Getty Images/AFP)

The number of calls made using Microsoft’s Teams videoconferencing software surged 1,000 percent in March as people collaborated online due to the coronavirus pandemic, the company said Thursday. It also said a new record of 2.7 billion “meeting minutes” in a single day had been reached on the platform.

“We’ve been inspired by the ways our customers are connecting during meetings in Microsoft Teams,” Jared Spataro, Microsoft 365 corporate vice president, said in a post.

“We’ve seen bosses show up to meetings as virtual potato heads and team stand-ups turn delightfully silly.”

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Videoconferencing has become de rigueur for work and social life as people around the world hunker down at home to avoid spreading the deadly coronavirus. Teams competes with online video and meeting services hosted by competitors including Google, Cisco, Facebook and Zoom.

“Trends in the data and conversations with our customers show us the world is realizing we can effectively connect across distances in a way some never thought possible before,” Spataro said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to most of the workers to work for home and it is during these times that applications like Zoom, Google Duo et cetera have gained popularity for official and unofficial purposes. Many Universities and schools have also started online classes for the students, however internet connectivity remains to be an issue.

(With inputs from AFP)

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