Stack Overflow is launching a new product. Stack Overflow Channels is targeted at teams of developers within companies who want a secure, private space to ask and answer proprietary questions.

Stack Overflow already has Enterprise, which offers large companies a knowledge sharing facility but it is intended for large teams of at least 500 technical staff. 

Channels on the other hand is meant for smaller teams (all the way down to just two people) who want to store their own knowledge alongside Stack Overflow's public knowledgebase.

Once Channels is generally available, any size team from the smallest to the largest will be able to purchase a private and secure space where devs can ask and answer sensitive questions that their teams wouldn't want outsiders to overhear.

Outlining the benefits of Channels, Stack Overflow says:

Reduce single-source-of-information bottlenecks by sharing any dev’s technical knowledge with every dev on your team.

We know the pain of having just one or two senior devs who have all the answers. Their time is monopolized by the need to help other devs do their jobs. Offload the Q&A to your private channel and give those devs back all that time.

The major advantage of using Stack Overflow is that it already so widely used:

Channels is a familiar experience: over 95% of the world’s developers use Stack Overflow to learn and grow their technical skills. Put important institutional knowledge where your teammates already are.

The potential barrier is of course cost and that is still an unknown. The website's FAQ's lists:

How much does it cost?

Nothing, yet. We’re still building this product and are focused on providing the best experience for our users. We’ll be inviting select teams to a private (free) beta, and once we’re confident that it’s a polished experience, we’ll address what we'll charge for the priced tier.

The FAQ's also states that Stack Overflow is looking for beta testers and there's a form that simply requires name, email address and engineering team size with 5 bands from fewer than 10 up to 500+ people.

More Information

Stack Overflow Channels

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Stack Overflow Documentation For All 

Stack Overflow Developer Characteristics 

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