Microsoft, Akamai team up on high-def video streams

Microsoft and Akamai Technologies are teaming up on high-definition video streaming efforts for PCs, the companies said Tuesday.

Akamai plans to release a beta service, AdaptiveEdge Streaming for Microsoft Silverlight, early next year to select media customers. It will run on Windows Server 2008 with Microsoft's Silverlight media player.

The move comes as broadband increasingly becomes a fixture in homes and as consumer expectations grow for smooth-running video on PCs. The clarity of HD images is also in video on PCs.

Microsoft will bring its new Web server technology, Internet Information Services 7.0 Smooth Streaming (IIS7.0), to the table. It is designed to let people view video streams with instant start-up times and without the play-and-pause jerkiness that can come with buffering. The technology aims to provide smooth streaming video by making real-time adjustments to changes in connectivity speeds.

Akamai plans to market the service to media companies worldwide. It will eventually become a feature of the IIS7 Media Pack.

"We've seen firsthand the growing demand for HD online content among our customer base," Tim Napoleon, Akamai's digital media chief strategist, said in a statement.

He noted that images broadcast over the television offer the same consistent quality for all viewers, but that such is not the case with streaming video on PCs. Each viewer may have a different experience on a computer, depending on connectivity speeds at any given moment.

The announcement comes after Microsoft unveiled plans two weeks ago for its Silverlight 2 media player. The new version carries features such as deep zoom, enhancements to cross-platform support, and support for digital rights management.

As more users move to mac and linux media outlets are going to get a huge backlash if they keep pushing silverlight down our throats...I've had a horrible experience with silverlight enabled sites (on a microsoft platform by the way). User's want standardization on an internationally accepted (and open) platform. Silverlight will fail - my prediction for 2008

[MadLyb]

Let's be honest, regular users could care less what platform provides their entertainment as long as:

a) It works
b) It's cheap, and
c) It works

I agree that MS needs to support OSX, but again let's be honest, considering the percentages, what market would you focus on if it was your money? Linux? That's even more of a reach than OSX in terms of market.

[rapier1]

Silverlight does support OS X. There are some half baked linux implementations so that is a valid criticism.

[streamOG]

Nice Job Team Akamai: Tim, Troy, Kit, Jamie, Peter, Jerry and Team Silverlight: Tom and Steve and Chris and Mark and Ben. This is a great announcement and will definitely add to the value that Silverlight offers.

Glad to see that Silverlight continues to be a market-leading technology making great strides in this marketplace.