Microsoft Corp. and The Walt Disney Studios today announced a five-year innovation partnership to pilot new ways to create, produce and distribute content on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform. Through The Walt Disney Studios’ StudioLAB, a technology hub designed to create and advance the future of storytelling with cutting-edge tools and methods, the companies will deliver cloud-based solutions to help accelerate innovation at The Walt Disney Studios for production and postproduction processes, or from “scene to screen.”
Production workflows will be implemented on the Azure platform. The first movies that have been edited in the cloud are expected to hit the big screen in 12 to 18 months. So, in future, the Microsoft logo may appear in the credits of the Disney blockbusters. The partnership is being announced in September 2019, less than two months before the long-awaited new Disney+ video streaming service is launched in the US.
“The cloud has reached a tipping point for the media industry, and it’s not surprising that The Walt Disney Studios, which has its heritage based on a passion for innovation and technology, is at the forefront of this transformation,” said Kate Johnson, president of Microsoft US.
“The combination of Azure’s hyperscale capacity, global distribution, and industry-leading storage and networking capabilities with Disney’s strong history of industry leadership unlocks new opportunity in the media and entertainment space and will power new ways to drive content and creativity at scale. With Azure as the platform cloud for content, we’re excited to work with the team at StudioLAB to continue to drive innovation across Disney’s broad portfolio of studios.”
“By moving many of our production and postproduction workflows to the cloud, we’re optimistic that we can create content more quickly and efficiently around the world,” said Jamie Voris, CTO, The Walt Disney Studios. “Through this innovation partnership with Microsoft, we’re able to streamline many of our processes so our talented filmmakers can focus on what they do best.”
Microsoft’s partnerships, intelligent platforms and products enable media companies to seamlessly move nearly every aspect of their business to the cloud to inspire creativity and collaboration, optimize the digital media supply chain and engage and monetize audiences.
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
Contact
Tanja Tatomirovic, Head of Communications, CEE Multicountry region, Microsoft: ceemcpress@microsoft.com
Natalia Dimitrova, Acta Verba, team@acta-verba.com