Movideo, a subsidiary of Australia-based MCM Entertainment Group (MEG), is migrating its online video platform from open source Linux Java stack to Windows Azure to deliver its software-as-a-service online video products. The full migration is scheduled to complete in May 2012.

Movideo offers an end-to-end video solution encompassing encoding, storing, managing, syndicating and delivering audio-visual content to multiple end-user devices, and featuring business intelligence tools.

"[Our four-year] global alliance with Microsoft is first a technical alliance whereby Windows Azure becomes the infrastructure platform for our [Movideo] cloud software as a service product," said Tony McGinn, Movideo CEO and MEG founder.

The move will see Movideo undertaking one of the largest Java transitions to Windows Azure. "We come from an open source background and typically used a Java stack inside our environments," said Cameron Moore, CTO of Movideo, which is working with the Microsoft China Cloud Innovation Center, Microsoft Hong Kong office and the Microsoft Redmond product engineering teams on the transition.

According to Chin Tang Chin, director, developer and platform evangelism of Microsoft Hong Kong, Movideo's video cloud platform took less than six months to migrate from Linux Java stack to Azure's cloud platform.

"The migration is expected to be completed in May," Moore added. "We can now take advantage of the added services that Windows Azure provides beyond just being infrastructure and accelerating our development road map of product features for our media customers with assurances that the scalability, redundancy and robustness of the back-end infrastructure are taken care of."

The global alliance between Movideo and Microsoft incorporates a long-term pricing agreement, technical support, and sales and marketing backing.

Movideo was launched in 2010 and now serves 30 customers, including Network Ten in Australia, MNC Group Indonesia, South China Morning Post Hong Kong, Reader's Digest Singapore and Astro Group Malaysia. It is focused on the rapidly emerging markets in APAC.

AccuStream Research's January 2012 Video Value Chain report forecasts that the market will grow from US$4.4 billion in 2011 to more than US$10 billion by the end of 2014. It expects that video platforms and content delivery will account for approximately 50% of this value chain.