Netflix is launching a desktop as a service application that will allow developers to remotely work on content for the streaming service. 

The ‘NetFX’ platform will connect vendors, artists and creators «from diverse backgrounds and experiences», the firm said, enabling them to collaborate on a wide range of films and TV shows currently in production.

The service arrives as a virtual workstation with integrated storage and full access to secure rendering in a connected environment. It will allow the streaming site to scale and creatively iterate on its visual effects work like never before, according to Netflix. 

Vendors will be able to contribute artist resources to optimise capacity and individuals can participate on-demand, all in a safe, coronavirus-free, virtual environment.

«Visual effects are in almost all of our features and series, ranging from the creation of complex creatures and environments to the removal of objects and backgrounds,» the streaming giant said in a blog.

«NetFX is a cutting-edge platform which will provide collaborators frictionless access to infrastructure to meet Netflix’s demand for VFX services around the world as our library of original content continues to grow.»

A beta version of the platform is currently in use in Canada with Netflix partners Frontier VFX and Galavant VFX. The hope is that the NetFX platform will be available for vendors, artists and creators in Mumbai by early 2021. 

The news comes after recent changes to the Netflix board, with longtime executive Ted Sarandos being named co-CEO alongside co-founder Reed Hastings.

«Ted has been my partner for decades. This change makes formal what was already informal – that Ted and I share the leadership of Netflix,» Hastings said in a letter to shareholders.

This also comes after the streaming site added a function to drop content from the «continue watching» row on user accounts.