General availability: Azure StorSimple 8000 Series Update 1

Azure StorSimple 8000 Series Update 1 is a software-only update that is available via Microsoft Update and installed on shipping units. It includes multiple new features for the StorSimple Hybrid Cloud Storage solution, in addition to incremental software improvements. Update 1 includes the Migration Tool Kit; support for other cloud storage, including AWS and OpenStack; SDK support for Azure PowerShell; and Zone Redundant Storage (ZRS) support.The Migration Tool Kit enables you to migrate from a StorSimple 5000/7000 Series solution to a StorSimple 8000 Series solution while maintaining your data in-place. Migration is orchestrated by using a set of Azure PowerShell cmdlets.StorSimple 8000 Series Update 1 permits you to define another cloud provider for your cloud storage. You can choose Amazon S3, Amazon S3 with RRS, or OpenStack-based clouds such as HPCS (a cloud solution available from Hewlett-Packard that offers public, private, hybrid, and managed private clouds based on OpenStack technology) as the backend storage for your StorSimple solution. Management of StorSimple data, backups, and other management workflows continues to be done from the Azure StorSimple service.Administrators can use a set of StorSimple Azure PowerShell commands to automate management tasks. For a set of supported StorSimple cmdlets, please visit the Azure StorSimple Cmdlets documentation page.StorSimple support for the Azure ZRS option is also available. This redundancy option helps keep your data durable by storing an equivalent of three copies of data across multiple facilities.For more information, please visit the StorSimple Hybrid Cloud Storage page. For questions regarding new features for the StorSimple 8000 series, please visit the StorSimple Community Forum on MSDN.