Swarmcast has joined the Microsoft Silverlight Partner Initiative, a program that creates a universal language for media applications. The Swarmcast open video platform integrates seamlessly with rich-media platforms such as Silverlight to enable high quality, cost-effective video delivery over the Internet. Swarmcast is joining the Initiative to further its mission of providing content providers and rich-media developers with the tools to engage global audiences with high-quality video.

The Silverlight platform enhances user experience with interactive Web applications by enabling content providers to combine video and animation, while helping control costs. The offering also provides extended Web audio and video streaming and playback capabilities via Microsoft Windows Media technologies.

“By simplifying media delivery, Silverlight enables designers and developers to spend more time on innovation rather than basic plumbing,” said Justin Chapweske, founder and CEO of Swarmcast. “As an early adopter, we’ve extended our video platform to support Silverlight and the Microsoft mission to deliver captivating rich media experiences.”

“The Swarmcast approach to delivering video content online via Silverlight will increase the overall value of our offerings and help companies meet the ever-changing needs and demands of content owners and users,” said Brad Becker, group product manager in the Developer Division at Microsoft Corp.

With its patented multi-source streaming technology, the Swarmcast suite of solutions enables high-definition (HD) quality, full-screen video over standard broadband, while protecting against re-buffering. The platform is content delivery network (CDN)-agnostic, and performs optimally regardless of type of content being viewed, whether it be long-form, short clips, live or archived.