in case you have been caught-up with all the pdc announcements and missed this one, we have announced plans with akamai to enable high-definition (HD) quality experiences over the web using smooth streaming.

so what the heck is smooth streaming? smooth streaming, a new extension for internet information services (iis) 7.0, enables adaptive streaming of media to silverlight clients via http. the sweet thing is smooth streaming dynamically detects and seamlessly switches, in real time, the video quality of a media file that a silverlight player receives based on local bandwidth and cpu conditions. consumers with high bandwidth connections can experience hd quality streaming while others with lower bandwidth speeds receive the appropriate stream for their connectivity, allowing consumers across the board to enjoy a consistent high quality streaming experience.

akamai also announced a proof of concept portal demonstrating the technology available at www.smoothhd.com. additionally, microsoft is announcing the upcoming availability of expression encoder 2 sp1 which encodes smooth streaming files.

pay attention to how this will change the game in media streaming!