Multi-cloud with AWS and Azure just got a whole lot easier thanks to a new interconnect service

Microsoft and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have launched a multi-cloud networking tool for Azure, combining Azure Multicloud Interconnect with AWS Interconnect.

AWS Interconnect - multicloud is built using the Open API specifications for network interoperability, and designed to help customers establish private, high-performance private connectivity between Microsoft Azure and AWS environments.

The companies admit that this hasn't always been easy in the past. Connecting Azure and AWS privately has generally meant stitching together Azure ExpressRoute, AWS Direct Connect, a connectivity provider or colocation footprint, customer-managed routers, BGP sessions, and link-layer encryption.

"Until now, organizations connecting Azure and AWS environments required careful planning, physical connectivity, routing configuration, provisioning coordination, monitoring, and lifecycle management to assemble and maintain multiple components across providers," said Narayan Annamalai, VP and head of products at Azure Networking Services.

"Azure Multicloud Interconnect fundamentally changes this model. With Microsoft and AWS collaborating using the standardized Open API specification, customers can establish dedicated private connectivity through a simplified experience that abstracts the underlying complexity of multi-cloud networking."

The announcement follows a similar deal between AWS and Google Cloud last December, with more likely to follow.

Tackling multi-cloud complexity

Multi-cloud strategies have become increasingly popular, thanks to interoperability requirements, the choice of technologies, regulatory requirements, and the ability to build and deploy applications in any environment quickly and easily.

Research last year from Equinix found that 42% of companies run between a quarter and half of all their workloads in hybrid or multi-cloud environments, with 85% connecting to between 10 and 50 clouds.

But a do-it-yourself approach can be complex. With AWS Interconnect – multicloud, AWS said provisioning happens in a few clicks. Customers get dedicated, private bandwidth between AWS and Azure on demand, with no physical infrastructure to manage and no circuit cabling to wait for.

The firms claim high resiliency, thanks to a quad-redundant architecture across physically diverse interconnect facilities and routers.

For example, when a customer creates a new Interconnect, AWS and the other CSP provision four independent logical paths, meaning that traffic can continue uninterrupted.

In terms of security, AWS said MACsec encryption between edge routers protects data throughout transit.

Meanwhile, AWS Interconnect includes Network Synthetic Monitor. When it detects packet loss, it triangulates whether the issue originates on the AWS side, making it simpler to troubleshoot across cloud environments.

How to get started

Interconnect - multicloud is available in preview with Microsoft Azure in the AWS regions US East, US West, Asia Pacific, and Europe.

The companies said they plan to expand availability to other regions, increase bandwidth options, and modify their offering based on customer feedback.

"Customers told us they wanted a better way to connect workloads spanning AWS and Azure, and the old ways of doing it were clunky," said Robert Kennedy, VP of network services at AWS.

"With AWS Interconnect-multicloud and Azure Multicloud Interconnect, we’re proving what’s possible when both sides commit to a high bar: MACsec security out of the box, four-nines availability, and scalability at the click of a button."

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