AWS Direct Connect

How does AWS Direct Connect Work?

AWS Direct Connect enables you to connect your on-premises or data center environment to AWS using a private network link, bypassing the public internet. This provides you with higher bandwidth, lower data transfer latency, and consistent network performance for your hybrid cloud deployments.

If you are leveraging AWS Direct Connect (DX) using phoenixNAP’s colocation or bare metal services, your cage is placed close to the AWS networking equipment located in our data center. Each of the cages contains a router, with an allocated cloud connection port. An end-to-end direct cloud connection is established by connecting your previously obtained port to the AWS Direct Connect endpoint. This high-performance, high-availability physical fiber connection allows you to transfer data at speeds from 1 Gbps to 10 Gbps. You can easily provision more connections if you need more capacity, scaling your network to meet your needs.

Once a physical connection is established, you can access your private cloud services such as Amazon EC2, or public cloud services such as Amazon S3 through public or private virtual interfaces (VIFs). Your private VIF connects you to a single VPC in the same AWS region using a Virtual Private Gateway (VPG). On the other hand, your public VIF can connect you to public cloud AWS services in any global location.

phoenixNAP allows you to establish direct connections to your preferred cloud services through a physical uplink to AWS from Phoenix, AZ, built natively into our enterprise-grade data center. If you are interested in leveraging AWS Direct Connect from your own on-prem data center or office, you can do this through any of multiple AWS partner network providers located in our carrier-neutral facility.

Contact your carrier to obtain your LOA and connect to our facility to gain access to our AWS Direct Connect service.

Benefits of AWS Direct Connect

phoenixNAP’s focus on security and compliance goes beyond the walls of our data center. With AWS Direct Connect, your business can achieve private network connectivity between AWS cloud services and your own environments. This way, you can prevent significant security risks from the public Internet and different network bottlenecks to build and utilize highly efficient and safer hybrid environments.

Increased network speed and lower latency, combined with high bandwidth and improved throughput, ensure a consistent network experience for your business, applications, services, and clients. If your organization transfers large datasets or real-time workloads on a regular basis, leveraging AWS Direct Connect can even lower your IT costs.

Physical data center and network security go hand in hand when creating high performance and compliant hybrid environments. Our experts will advise you about creating on-premise and colocated solutions with secure and cost-effective AWS connectivity.