Disaster recovery is a critical consideration for any IT desktop strategy. When it comes to remote desktops, the majority of organizations consider disaster recovery a primary objective. Since its introduction, Windows 365 has provided robust business continuity and disaster recovery options. Whether for compliance requirements, natural disasters, technical failure, or human error, putting greater distance between your primary and backup environments can add an extra sense of security and peace of mind to any IT desktop strategy.

We are excited to introduce Windows 365 Cross-region Disaster Recovery, a Windows 365 add-on feature that creates “snapshots” of Cloud PCs. These snapshots are placed in customer-defined, geographically distant locations, and they can be recovered to Cloud PCs running in the selected location during a disaster recovery event.

Windows 365 Cross-region Disaster Recovery is especially relevant for industries and organizations that are highly regulated, or that have users or workflows that require geographic distance between primary and backup locations.

Configuration and use

Unlike many traditional disaster recovery solutions, Windows 365 Cross-region Disaster Recovery was designed to be configured and used with minimal—or even no—prior disaster recovery experience. Configuration can be completed in a few minutes. In the event of an outage, recovery may be activated with just a few clicks and typically in less than five minutes.

In addition to configuration and activation, Windows 365 Cross-region Disaster Recovery has been integrated into various reports and flows. Reports alert administrators if an outage has taken place and provide full context of the configuration and status of each Cloud PC using Windows 365 Cross-region Disaster Recovery. After the outage is resolved, administrators are notified and can deactivate Cross-region Disaster Recovery in minutes.

How do I get the Windows 365 Cross-region Disaster Recovery add-on?

Windows 365 Cross-region Disaster Recovery is provided as an add-on license to Windows 365 Enterprise SKUs. It is not currently available for any other Windows 365 SKU.
In the United States, pricing for the Windows 365 Cross-region Disaster Recovery add-on is $5 per user, per month. It can be applied to the Enterprise Cloud PCs that the user is licensed to use. Please contact sales for pricing in other regions.

FAQ

Q: Are the geographies and regions available for Windows 365 Cross-region Disaster Recovery limited?
A: In general no, because any geography or region where Windows 365 is available may be used as a backup region, and any of those areas can be selected by the administrator. Administrators should carefully consider the location of Cloud PC users, as well as data sovereignty, when selecting backup regions.

Q: If a user has multiple Cloud PCs, can each device have a different Windows 365 Cross-region Disaster Recovery configuration?
A: No. At this time, all Cloud PCs associated with a user will have the same Windows 365 Cross-region Disaster Recovery configuration.

Q: What is the restore time objective (RTO) and restore point objective (RPO) for Windows 365 Cross-region Disaster Recovery?
A: RPO is defined by the cadence of point-in-time restore snapshots. The RTO is four hours for Cloud PC tenants with up to 50,000 Cloud PCs in a region. The performance of Cross-region Disaster Recovery is anticipated to increase as actual deployment sizes increase to maintain an RTO of four hours.

Next Steps

Learn more about:

Windows 365 Cross-region Disaster Recovery
Point-in-time restore for Windows 365 Enterprise
Windows 365 and Azure network connections
Azure regions and zones

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