Announcement: Windows Azure Media Services

Microsoft is set to announce their new Azure Media services at the upcoming 2012 National Association of Broadcasters Show.  According to the Azure Media Services site, this service will offer all the usual cloudy services - 'flexibility,' 'scalability,' etc. - to handle TV, movies, video games, etc.  And, of course, they provide a candy coated infographic: 

Media services is designed to provide a platform for developing a comprehensive workflow, from upload to delvery of media.  Another interesting point is that the service boasts compatibility for Windows, Xbox, iOS and Android.  This overlap in compatibilty between Azure Media Services and other operating systems not developed by Microsoft marks a continuing trend in the cloud.  It will be interesting to see over the coming years if a single platform like Azure or AWS comes out on top, or if market competition continues to expand the reach of the cloud.