Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is seeing its investment in cloud services pay off as its Azure revenues for the fiscal fourth-quarter climbed 102 percent year over year. And one of the fruits of that success is a new enterprise video management system, Stream, which utilizes the Azure platform.
The new service offers fast signup and allows businesses to securely control uploading, downloading and viewing of content within their organization via the Azure Active Directory. The service is currently in preview mode.
"Microsoft Stream builds upon the learnings and success of Office 365 Video, and over time the two experiences will converge, making Stream the de facto video experience in Office 365," said James Phillips, VP of Business Intelligence, in a blog post announcing the preview earlier this week.
Azure is a cornerstone of Microsoft's transformation from a primarily software company to a cloud services provider, and its performance so far clearly is making CEO Satya Nadella happy. "This past year was pivotal in both our own transformation and in partnering with our customers who are navigating their own digital transformations," he said in the company's earnings release. "The Microsoft Cloud is seeing significant customer momentum and we're well positioned to reach new opportunities in the year ahead."
Supporting online video has been a key strategy in Azure's growth. Two years ago, Microsoft bulked up Skype with a broadcast-quality version of the popular voice and video calling app, Skype TX, with Azure as a key component. The company teamed with video platform providers like Ooyala to offer workflow management and other OTT support through Azure Media Services.
For the fourth quarter, revenue in Microsoft's Intelligent Cloud division, which includes Azure, grew 7 percent year over year to $6.7 billion. In addition to Azure's doubled revenue, server products and cloud services revenues climbed 5 percent and enterprise mobility customers doubled to 33,000.
Overall, Microsoft reported diluted earnings per share of 69 cents on net income of 5.5 billion non-GAAP for its fiscal fourth quarter, and revenues of $22.6 billion. For the full year, the company saw EPS of $2.79 on net income of $22.3 billion, with total revenues of $92 billion.
Microsoft shares climbed more than 3 percent in after-market trading on the Nasdaq, to around $54.78, following its earnings announcement.
For more:
- see this blog post
- see this Business Insider article
- see the earnings release
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