Today Equinix announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft that enables cloud connectivity to Windows Azure in key markets globally through our data centers.
Windows Azure is an open and flexible cloud platform that enables customers to quickly build, deploy and manage applications. By leveraging Azure, enterprises can flexibly build applications using any language, tool or framework.
Equinix customers can connect their owned and managed infrastructure directly to Windows Azure via Platform Equinix, establishing a private network connection that may reduce network costs, increase throughput, reduce latency and provide more consistent network performance than Internet-based connections.
Equinix’s General Manager of Cloud & Content Chris Sharp says, “Equinix’s neutral data center environment offers security, performance and a globally consistent experience for enterprises that are moving into the cloud. Through our relationship with Microsoft we can provide customers with direct connectivity to Windows Azure opening up new opportunities in hybrid cloud computing.”
Connecting to Windows Azure through Platform Equinix allows enterprises to bridge their cloud and data center strategies allowing full integration between cloud services and internal applications, and flexible and dynamic bandwidth through automated network provisioning.
A direct connection to Windows Azure will be available in multiple Equinix IBX data centers across the US in the first half of 2014 and will be onboarding a small number of customers for early trials by the end of 2013. More details on locations will be shared when the solution becomes available.
To get more perspective on how Microsoft sees the Enterprise Cloud market evolving, read their blog entry The Enterprise Cloud takes center stage.
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