Microsoft Azure Data Box offline data transfer solution allows you to send petabytes of data into Azure Storage in a quick, inexpensive, and reliable manner. The secure data transfer is accelerated by hardware transfer devices that enable offline data ingestion to Azure. Our customers use the Data Box family to move petabytes-scale data into Azure for backup, archival, data analytics, media and entertainment, training, and different workload migrations etc. We continue to get requests about moving truly massive amounts of data in a secure, simple and quick manner. We’ve heard you and to address your needs, we’ve designed a new, enhanced product to meet your data transfer needs. 

About the latest innovation in Azure Data Box Family 

Today, we’re excited to announce the preview of Azure Data Box 120 and Azure Data Box 525, our next-generation compact, NVMe-based Data Box devices. The new offerings reflect insights gained from working with our customers over the years and understanding their evolving data transfer needs. These new devices incorporate several improvements to accelerate offline data transfers to Azure, including: 

• Fast copy - Built with NVMe drives for high-speed transfers and improved reliability and support for faster network connections 

• Easy to use - larger capacity offering (525 TB) in a compact form-factor for easy handling 

• Resilient - Ruggedized devices built to withstand rough conditions during transport 

• Secure - Enhanced physical, hardware and software security features 

• Broader availability – Presence in more Azure regions, meeting local compliance standards and regulations 

What’s new? 

Improved Speed & Efficiency 

• NVMe devices offer faster data transfer rates, with copy speeds up to 7 GBps via SMB Direct on RDMA (100-GbE) for medium to large files, a 10x improvement in data transfer speeds as compared to previous generation devices. 

• High-speed transfers to Azure with data upload up to 5x faster for medium to large files, reducing the lead time for your data to become accessible in the Azure cloud.  

• Improved networking with support for up to 100 GbE connections, as compared to 10 GbE on the older generation of devices. 

• Two options with usable capacity of 120 TB and 525 TB in a compact form factor meeting OSHA requirements. Devices ship the next day air in most regions. 

Learn more about the performance improvements on Data Box 120 and Data Box 525.  

Enhanced Security 

The next generation devices come with several new physical, hardware and software security enhancements. This is in addition to the built in Azure security baseline for Data Box and Data Box service security measures currently supported by the service. 

• Secure boot functionality with hardware root of trust and Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0.  

• Custom tamper-proof screws and built-in intrusion detection system to detect unauthorized device access.  

• AES 256-bit BitLocker software encryption for data at rest is currently available. Hardware encryption via the RAID controller, which will be enabled by default on these devices, is coming soon. Furthermore, once available, customers can enable double encryption through both software and hardware encryption to meet their sensitive data transfer requirements.  

• These ISTA 6A compliant devices are built to withstand rough conditions during shipment while keeping both the device and your data safe and intact. 

Learn more about the enhanced security features on Data Box 120 and Data Box 525.  

Broader Azure region coverage 

Recurring request from our customers has been for wider availability of our higher-capacity device to ease large migrations. We’re happy to share Data Box 525 will be available across most Azure regions where the Data Box service is currently live. This marks a significant improvement in availability of a large-capacity device as compared to the current Data Box Heavy. 

What our customers have to say 

For the last several months, we’ve been working directly with our customers of all industries and sizes to leverage the next generation devices for their data migration needs. Customers love the larger capacity with form-factor familiarity, seamless set up and faster copy.  

“This new offering brings significant advantages, particularly by simplifying our internal processes. With deployments ranging from hundreds of terabytes to even petabytes, we previously relied on multiple regular Data Box devices—or occasionally Data Box Heavy devices—which required extensive operational effort. The new solution offers sizes better aligned with our needs, allowing us to achieve optimal results with fewer logistical steps. Additionally, the latest generation is faster and provides more connectivity options at data centre premises, enhancing both efficiency and flexibility for large-scale data transfers.” - Lukasz Konarzewski, Senior Data Architect, Commvault 

“We have been using the devices to move 1PB of archival media data to Azure blob storage using the Data Box transfer devices. The next generation devices provided a very smooth setup and copy experience, and we were able to transfer data in larger chunks and much faster than before. Overall, this has helped shorten our migration lead times and land the data in the cloud quickly and seamlessly.” - Daniel Perry, Kohler 

“We have had a positive experience overall with the new Data Box devices to move our data to Azure Blob storage. The devices offer easy plug and play installation, detailed documentation especially for the security features and good data copy performance. We would definitely consider using it again for future large data migration projects.” – Bas Boeijink, Cloud Engineer, Eurofiber Cloud Infra 

Sign up for the Preview 

The Preview is available in the US, Canada, EU, UK, and US Gov Azure regions, and we will continue to expand to more regions in the coming months.  If you are interested in the preview, we want to hear from you.  

• Customers can sign up here   

• ISV partners can sign up here 

You can learn more about the all-new Data Box devices here. We are committed to continuing to deliver innovative solutions to lower the barrier for bringing data to Azure. Your feedback is important to us. Tell us what you think about the new Azure Data Box preview by writing to us at DataBoxPM@microsoft.com – we can’t wait to hear from you. 

Stop by and see us! 

Now that you’ve heard about the latest innovation in the product family, do come by and see the new devices at the Ignite session What’s new in Azure Storage: Supercharge your data centric workloads, on 21st November starting 11:00 AM CST. You can also drop by the Infra Hub to learn more from our product experts and sign up to try the new devices for your next migration!