StorSimple and Microsoft Azure offer a unique and integrated primary storage, archival, and disaster recovery solution with Azure as the extension of on-premises storage. The StorSimple Hybrid Cloud Storage Solution helps manage data growth and lower storage costs up to 60%. Cloud storage is used to offload inactive data from on-premises and for storing backup and archive data. Automated cloud snapshots replace costly remote replication and time-consuming tape management. The data uploaded to the cloud can be accessed from other sites for recovery and data migration; the instant recovery capability downloads only the data needed by applications for fast RTOs (recovery time objectives). Additionally, disaster recovery testing can be now be performed without disrupting normal daily operations. This solution is particularly well-suited for use in large file share document management and archiving applications where historical files are seldom accessed but need to be readily available.