Communication security

 

Zoom Beats Microsoft Teams, Google Meet With Game-Changing New Features

Zoom has had a tough few months as competitors such as Microsoft Teams and Google Meet have tried to steal its crown in the video conferencing space. But now, Zoom is fighting back with a bunch of game-changing features—one of which is rare in large scale video conferencing.

The first and possibly the biggest new feature is the availability of end-to-end encryption in Zoom. This will be available as a technical preview from next week, allowing free and paying users to host up to 200 people on an end-to-end encrypted video call.

End-to-end encryption means no one has the keys to access your Zoom call—including Zoom itself and law enforcement. It’s available on services including WhatsApp, Signal and FaceTime, but other video conferencing services Teams and Google Meet do not have this level of security (they are encrypted, but not end-to-end).

Zoom’s end-to-end encryption offering is optional, and it can be enabled at the account, group, and user level. Depending on how the account admin sets up the feature, it can be toggled on and off by the host on a by-meeting basis depending on the sensitivity of the discussion.

Zoom has also added a tool called Zapps that connects other apps directly in Zoom. This will rival Microsoft’s Teams and its Advanced Communications offering which is tightly integrated with Microsoft’s other services.

Another new feature, Immersive Scenes lets the host set a custom background theme for their meetings or create layouts where participant videos are embedded within a scene that everyone shares, such as a classroom or courtroom, similar to Teams’ “Together Mode.”

Building on this, Zoom Rooms smart gallery leverages AI to present in-room participants as individuals in gallery view to better enable face-to-face communication between in-office and remote participants.

Zoom also announced that support for DTEN ME, Facebook via the Zoom on Portal app, and Zoom Rooms appliances are generally available. Amazon Echo Show, DTEN onTV, Google Assistant-enabled Smart Displays including Nest Hub Max, and Yealink A20 will be supported by the end of year.