Microsoft acquired Avere, a leading provider of high-performance NFS and SMB file-based storage for Linux and Windows clients ... running in cloud, hybrid and on-premises environments, in January 2018. Avere uses an innovative combination of file system and caching technologies to support the performance requirements for customers who run large-scale compute workloads. By bringing together Avere’s storage expertise with the power of Microsoft’s cloud, customers will benefit from industry-leading innovations that enable the largest, most complex high-performance workloads to run in Microsoft Azure. For more information about the Avere acquistion visit: https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2018/01/03/microsoft-to-acquire-avere-systems-accelerating-high-performance-computing-innovation-for-media-and-entertainment-industry-and-beyond/” read more