Platform adds Azure access points

The expanded service provides enterprises with direct, on-demand network access to a variety of Azure services, including Azure VMware Solution, which helps enterprises speed up their hybrid cloud transformations by moving or extending on-premises VMware environments to Azure.

With this expansion, private cloud on-ramps to Azure ExpressRoute are now available in 32 Equinix metros, further extending Equinix’s position as one of the leading providers of Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute on-ramps in the world.

As enterprises today continue to digitally transform and shift to hybrid cloud architectures, private and secure connectivity to cloud service providers such as Microsoft Azure is essential for accelerating their journey to the cloud. For businesses looking to migrate strategic legacy applications to the cloud, the expanded global availability of Azure VMware Solution via Platform Equinix can help simplify hybrid cloud deployments by seamlessly shifting on-premises, legacy workloads to the cloud with high-bandwidth and low-latency connectivity.

Additionally, enterprises can further extend their global reach by remotely accessing Azure ExpressRoute cloud services via Equinix Fabric™. By utilizing the interconnection capabilities of Equinix Fabric to privately connect to Azure services, enterprises can optimize the performance of their Azure VMware Solution environment on a global scale by minimizing network latency and bandwidth concerns from their hybrid cloud deployments.

Since 2013, Equinix has been enabling cloud connectivity to Azure. With the addition of six new global markets, Azure ExpressRoute is currently available in Equinix International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data centers in 32 metros, including Amsterdam, Atlanta, Bogotá, Canberra, Chicago, Dallas, Dubai, Dublin, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hamburg (serving Berlin), Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Miami, Milan, New York, Osaka, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Seattle, Seoul, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Stockholm, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Washington, D.C. and Zurich.

Azure VMware Solution is available via Platform Equinix in 10 global Azure regions today. The hybrid cloud solution can be accessed directly in Equinix IBX data centers located in Amsterdam, Chicago, Dublin, London, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto and Washington, D.C. via Equinix Fabric. Enterprise customers in remote markets can leverage Equinix Fabric for high-speed, low-latency connectivity into these available regions, which provides high-performance global availability for Azure VMware Solution through Platform Equinix.

Equinix Fabric is a software-defined interconnection service that allows any business to connect between its own distributed infrastructure and to any other company's infrastructure on Platform Equinix. When combined with Azure ExpressRoute, Equinix Fabric enables seamless, on-demand, direct access to cloud services such as Azure.

Equinix continues to be one of the single best places for companies to deploy their digital infrastructure for hybrid cloud architectures, offering the most locations to directly and privately connect to the leading IaaS and SaaS clouds. In just minutes, Equinix Fabric customers can directly connect to major cloud providers as well as a growing ecosystem of network service providers, SaaS and collaboration providers. This rapidly growing density of enterprise digital infrastructure adjacent to public cloud infrastructure has continued to attract new cloud and network service providers to make their services available on Equinix Fabric.

Direct and private connectivity to strategic cloud service providers like Microsoft is essential as digital transformation can fuel higher demand for localized digital services at the edge. According to Volume4 of the Global Interconnection Index, an annual market study published by Equinix, interconnecting multiple cloud and IT providers across multiple locations and cloud regions represents the fastest-growing use case of interconnection bandwidth – and is expected to grow to 16% of the ecosystem by 2023.