Microsoft announces Windows Azure Import/Export preview with FedEx data transfer

1 min. read

Published on November 4, 2013

published on November 4, 2013

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Microsoft is previewing a new service which helps to eliminate one obstacle that stands in the way of people looking to try out cloud storage services. Whatever the quantity of data involved, if you want to test drive a service, you’ll need to spend time uploading it — and this has security, as well as time, implications.

The preview of the new Windows Azure Import/Export service overcomes this problem, but not necessarily in the way you might first think. Rather than uploading data over a cable connection, it is instead shipped via FedEx.

Hard drives encrypted using BitLocker can be couriered to Microsoft’s data centers where the data can be quickly transferred to a customer’s blob storage account. The Windows Azure Management Portal can be used to set up and manage Import/Export jobs.

Despite the fact that customers retain the encryption key to their data during transportation, it remains to be seen whether this will be a popular method of transferring data.

Radu Tyrsina

Radu Tyrsina has been a Windows fan ever since he got his first PC, a Pentium III (a monster at that time). For most of the kids of his age, the Internet was an amazing way to play and communicate with others, but he was deeply impressed by the flow of information and how easily you can find anything on the web. Prior to founding Windows Report, this particular curiosity about digital content enabled him to grow a number of sites that helped hundreds of millions reach faster the answer they're looking for.