New Data Box Models Speed Ingestion

• Even with high-speed Internet, transferring petabytes of data to the cloud can be difficult.
• New versions of Data Box, Azure’s offline transfer appliance, offer faster performance and mostly lower costs.

Azure Data Box, Microsoft’s offline transfer device, has been upgraded to offer significantly faster network performance, making it easier for customers working with petabyte-scale datasets to move data in and out of Azure. The new versions replace the previous generation and offer improvements in nearly every dimension.

The Need for Offline Transfer

Despite continuing improvements in Internet connectivity, transferring large amounts of data between on-premises environments and the cloud can still be difficult. Even with one gigabit-per-second bandwidth, transferring one petabyte of data can take over 90 days. Offline transfer devices solve that problem with specialized appliances that customers attach to their internal network, copy files to, and then return to Microsoft via shipping services like UPS.