AWS Direct Connect

How AWS Direct Connect Works

AWS Direct Connect links your internal network to the AWS Direct Connect deployment in Portland over a direct point-to-point connection. It is a network service, and works with all the same AWS services that are accessible over the public internet.

Once connected into AWS Direct Connect, you can create virtual interfaces directly to the AWS cloud, gaining access to many of the services offered by AWS, including Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), and to your Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC).

AWS Direct Connect Availability

We currently offer a native AWS Direct Connect node in Portland, and have SDN-enabled locations across the U.S. and Europe.

At these non-native on-ramp locations, we partner with industry-leading SDN providers like Megaport and PacketFabric to bring private cloud access solutions to the edge.  These SDN solutions leverage extensive software platforms to control an on-demand network infrastructure, supplying elastic bandwidth for virtual connections to AWS and enabling full automation and service flexibility.

Key Benefits of SDN Partners:

• Automatic on-demand provisioning
• Flexible service terms
• Full network management control to help align to the changing needs of your network

Additional Benefits

You can use AWS Direct Connect to establish a private virtual interface from your on-premise network directly to your Amazon VPC, providing you with a private, high bandwidth network connection between your network and your VPC. With multiple virtual interfaces, you can even establish private connectivity to multiple VPCs while maintaining network isolation.

Network latency over the Internet can vary given that the Internet is constantly changing how data gets from point A to B. With AWS Direct Connect, you choose the data that utilizes the dedicated connection and how that data is routed which can provide a more consistent network experience over Internet-based connections.

If you have bandwidth-heavy workloads you wish to run in AWS, AWS Direct Connect reduces your network costs into and out of AWS in two ways. First, by transferring data to and from AWS directly, you can reduce bandwidth commitment to your Internet service provider. Second, all data transferred over your dedicated connection is charged at the reduced AWS Direct Connect data transfer rate rather than Internet data transfer rates.

It’s easy to scale your connection depending on your networking requirements. Multiple connection options are available, including 1 Gbps, 10 bps, and 100 Gbps for larger workloads and bandwidth intensive applications. AWS Direct Connect is a network service, and works with all AWS services accessible over the Internet.