Today Microsoft announced the general availability of Azure Media Services, a new set of tools and analytics to help developers build massively scaling media delivery services involving real-time video. For example, Microsoft claims that “Last year several broadcasters used Windows Azure Media Services to stream the London 2012 Olympics.”
That in mind, Azure Media Services isn’t precisely new, but is instead now open for general use. Microsoft is offering a 90 day demo period to drive early adoption.
Happily, the product is relatively end-user agnostic, with the capability to stream to “HTML5, Flash, Silverlight, Windows 8, iPad, iPhone, Android, Xbox, Windows Phone and other clients” in several formats. In short, if you need to deliver video of any sort to any device, Microsoft wants you to use Azure to do so. For the listed platforms, Microsoft has SDKs and players ready to go, so developer strain should be minimal.
Azure a PaaS and IaaS cloud offering from Microsoft is rapidly becoming on of its crown jewels, as the company positions the tool in the middle of its ‘devices and services’ plan.
For a technical look at Azure Media Services, Microsoft’s Scott Gutherie has a graphical run-down here that is of good use. I’ll spare our non-technical readers the specifics. Key to the product is price, with Microsoft touting that it allows for “very cost effective” creation of media services.
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For more on Azure, and its rising profile in its home company, head here.
Top Image Credit: Robert Scoble
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