### Removed
- github.com/Azure/azure-sdk-for-go: [v68.0.0+incompatible](https://github.com/Azure/azure-sdk-for-go/tree/v68.0.0)
- github.com/Azure/go-autorest/autorest/adal: [v0.9.23](https://github.com/Azure/go-autorest/tree/autorest/adal/v0.9.23)
- github.com/Azure/go-autorest/autorest/date: [v0.3.0](https://github.com/Azure/go-autorest/tree/autorest/date/v0.3.0)

    // Legacy configuration keys for backward compatibility (Azure AD)
    /** Legacy configuration key for Azure AD state time-to-live. */
    protected static final String AAD_STATE_TTL = "aad.state.ttl";

    /** Legacy configuration key for Azure AD authority URL. */
    protected static final String AAD_AUTHORITY = "aad.authority";

    /** Legacy configuration key for Azure AD tenant ID. */

	* Added exponential backoff to Azure cloudprovider ([#46660](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/46660), [@jackfrancis](https://github.com/jackfrancis))

  * Add support for bring-your-own ip address for Services on Azure ([#42034](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/42034), [@brendandburns](https://github.com/brendandburns))

### Other notable changes

* fix device name change issue for azure disk: add remount logic ([#57953](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/57953), [@andyzhangx](https://github.com/andyzhangx))
* GCE: Allows existing internal load balancers to continue using an outdated subnetwork  ([#57861](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/57861), [@nicksardo](https://github.com/nicksardo))

Transition tiers can be added to MinIO using `mc admin tier add` command to associate a `gcs`, `s3` or `azure` bucket or prefix path on a bucket to the tier name.
Lifecycle transition rules can be applied to buckets (both versioned and un-versioned) by specifying the tier name defined above as the transition storage class for the lifecycle rule.

* azure: fix Azure Container Registry integration ([#40142](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/40142), [@colemickens](https://github.com/colemickens))
* azure disk: restrict name length for Azure specifications ([#40030](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/40030), [@colemickens](https://github.com/colemickens))

- Fix: skip case sensitivity when checking Azure NSG rules
  fix: ensure InstanceShutdownByProviderID return false for creating Azure VMs ([#104447](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/104447), [@feiskyer](https://github.com/feiskyer)) [SIG Cloud Provider]

     * @return The SSO authenticator instance, or null if not found
     */
    protected SsoAuthenticator getAuthenticator() {
        String ssoType = getSsoType();
        // Backward compatibility: map legacy "aad" (Azure AD) to "entraid" (Entra ID)
        if ("aad".equals(ssoType)) {
            ssoType = "entraid";
        }
        final String name = ssoType + "Authenticator";
        if (ComponentUtil.hasComponent(name)) {

* azure: add PrimaryAvailabilitySet to config, only use nodes in that set in the loadbalancer pool ([#34526](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/34526), [@colemickens](https://github.com/colemickens))

3. **Reliability**: 
   - Persistent handles survive 99% of network interruptions
   - Witness protocol achieves <5 second failover time
4. **Compatibility**: Works with Windows Server 2016+ and Azure Files

## Next Steps

1. **Immediate Actions**:
   - Set up Windows Server test environment
   - Create detailed technical specifications for Phase 1
   - Identify and evaluate Java RDMA libraries