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Windows Azure Media Services

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Last April 16, Microsoft announced the new Windows Azure Media Services at the National Association of Broadcasters show in Las Vegas. This new PaaS offering enable Broadcasters, Network Operators, Content Owners and Enterprises with a complete solution for the creation, management and distribution over a flexible, scalable and reliable cloud platform to engage a global audience.

One of the most difficult challenges for Operators, Content Owners or Enterprises when they are planning an online media service is the complexity of the architecture and infrastructure needed to deploy it. Several components, hundreds of servers hosted in different data centers, a complex distribution network and more is a heavy weight for many businesses to not start this kind of services; Windows Azure Media Services is here to reduce that weight and accelerate the process.

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Key capabilities:

Ingest: Upload assets to Media Services storage using standard HTTP or built-in third-party agents for high-speed transfers (as Aspera Inc.).

Encoding and Format Conversion: Content encoding from Digital Rapids Corp., ATEME, Dolby Laboratories Inc., standards codecs and format (Smooth Streaming, HTTP Live streaming, MPEG-DASH and Flash) allowing total control over input and output to work with any device (PCs, Xbox360, Windows Phone, Smart TVs, set-top boxes, MacOS, iOS and Android).

Content Protection: Protect your assets easily with the most accepted DRM for premium content, Microsoft PlayReady, also, standard MPEG Common Encryption, BuyDRM and Civolution. In addition, you can add watermarking for an extra layer of protection.

On-Demand Streaming: video-on-demand streaming delivered via Windows Azure CDN or third-party delivery networks and media servers as Wowza Media Systems Inc.

Live Streaming: Use Media Services or an external feed to create an publish live streaming channels with features like server-side DVR and instant replay.

If all this sound good for you, sign up for the preview here. Some examples are coming soon.