Microsoft is building a cloud-based service codenamed "Arcadia" to stream apps and video games, reports ZDNet.

Arcadia is based on Microsoft's cloud computing infrastructure, Azure, and is being developed by a streaming technology team within the company's Operating Systems Group, according to ZDNet. The service is said to replace "Rio," the codename for the game-streaming technology that Microsoft demonstrated during an internal company meeting last September.

The Verge reported at the time that the Rio demo streamed Halo 4 to a Windows Phone device with an Xbox 360 controller attached, and to a low-end computer running Windows. Microsoft had said previously that it was looking into using Azure-based technology to provide backward compatibility on Xbox One, similar to the way Sony's Gaikai-based PlayStation Now works.

Citing an anonymous source, ZDNet reports that Microsoft considered using Arcadia to stream apps as well. A potential use case would give Windows and Windows Phone users the ability to run Android apps and games via streaming, a possibility Microsoft's Operating Systems Group had been exploring for some time. But Microsoft has shelved that idea for now, according to ZDNet.