Cloud Connect
End-to-end controlled private access to where the cloud lives
The benefits of Cloud Connect
As an increasing number of applications are deployed in the cloud, cloud connectivity has become a business-critical factor for most companies. In the past, connecting to a Cloud Service Provider could only be realised over the public Internet. But with the rise of data-heavy cloud computing and applications, there is a growing demand for secure and reliable network connections. Reaching your private cloud by Cloud Connect is more secure and reduces latency by up to 40%
Benefits of a distributed network
Let's assume you want to connect to Azure North (Dublin). Due to the distributed nature of the NL-ix network, NL-ix can connect you straight direct in Dublin, entirely over the NL-ix network. This way you keep end-to-end sight and control of your traffic as it all remains on the NL-ix network. Users will also benefit from our transparent, low-latency and geo-redundant network which guarantees fast, stable delivery of cloud services.
Redundancy & Resilience
For redundancy purposes, a second connection is advised (mandatory for Azure). This connection is made over the same network but from a different customer datacenter to a different geographical cloud on-ramp location.
When you need SLA availability of 99,99%, we can offer our Fabric B. This fabric is completely separated from our Fabric A, with different core-datacenters, physical routes, and hardware vendors. This ensures the availability not just commercially, but also from a technical point of view.
| SLA availabilities | Standard SLA | Advanced SLA |
|---|---|---|
| Single connection | 98% | N/A |
| Redundant connection | 99% | 99,9% |
| Resilient connection over fabric B | N/A | 99,99% |
As an official partner of the major leading cloud providers, NL-ix offers direct connectivity that meets the strictest standards of Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
NL-ix has a fine-grained footprint throughout Western Europe and can deliver Cloud Connect from any of our 100+ datacenters. So, the chances are that we are already present in the same datacenter as you are. Your organisation can be directly connected to Azure, AWS, Google and Oracle from any of our datacenters, preventing single points of failure (SPOFs) and/or hair-pinning traffic and removing the need for additional transport.
Frequently asked Questions
What are the benefits of using Cloud Connect for accessing your IaaS environment compared to the public Internet?
Accessing your IaaS environment via the public Internet requires an encrypted VPN tunnel for security, which increases data size and bandwidth needs. Encryption adds processing steps, causing latency and delaying data delivery. Moreover, the route to the IaaS environment is uncertain over the Public Internet, as the path cannot be controlled.
Cloud Connect offers a direct private connection that minimizes latency, guarantees stable performance, and enhances data privacy. It shields your network from potential risks, facilitates Quality of Service (QoS) for crucial applications, and accommodates scalability as demands increase.
What makes Cloud Connect from NL-ix different from other Cloud Connects?
AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and Oracle Cloud have limited datacenter presence in Europe. NL-ix, with its distributed network across these datacenters, empowers direct data transfer from any of our 100+ datacenters (PoPs) to Cloud Service Providers' datacenters.
By maintaining traffic within NL-ix's interconnected ecosystem, there's no dependency on third parties. This ensures efficient and reliable end-to-end data delivery, ensuring optimal performance.
Furthermore, NL-ix is datacenter neutral, offering freedom in changing datacenter in case required.
What is the benefit of NL-ix being datacenter neutral?
NL-ix is datacenter neutral, and works with a wide variety of datacenter operators: customers have the freedom to select and/or change their datacenter location without being locked in. This makes changing datacenters easy.
What does NL-ix mean with a managed layer 2 Cloud Connect?
A managed layer 2 Cloud Connect is a service that offers a controlled and optimized connection between an organization's network and a cloud service provider's network. This service operates at the data link layer (layer 2) of the OSI model, facilitating direct and secure communication between the two networks.
NL-ix takes responsibility for establishing, monitoring, and managing the connection. This includes provisioning and configuring the necessary networking equipment, monitoring performance, and troubleshooting any issues that may arise. In case of AWS Direct Connect, the customer sets up the correct BGP peering in order to create a working connection. In all cases, the customer is responsible for the Cloud Service Provider domain.
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For organisations
Organisations with NL-ix Cloud Connect can also get access to our online portal. The portal provides easy insight into the usage of your port(s), traffic characteristics, flows and usage, latencies and historic data for your (multi)cloud environment.
Combining multiple Cloud instances on a single port, or adding Peering, Transit and layer 2 Transport services over the same port enables to save on the monthly cost of patch cables and ports in use. Multiple services over a single port also means a single invoice and easier manageability.
NL-ix is datacenter-neutral, and works with a wide variety of datacenter operators: customers have the freedom to select and/or change their datacenter location. This makes changing datacenter as easy as changing an IP-range.
For Integrators/Resellers
Depending on the needs of your customers, NL-ix supports both a dedicated port (Layer 2 topology) as well as Cloud Connects over a shared port (Layer 3 topology) to which multiple end-users can be connected. The integrator/reseller is responsible for connecting the end-user network to the port.
If you want to offer your customers the best interconnection opportunities available and want to enable them to directly connect to any cloud, any datacenter and/or to have access to Peering and Transit services, NL-ix is a one-stop-shop. And we also offer a range of high-value innovative interconnection services to extend your customer proposition.
Use Case:
Connecting you to the cloud… any cloud
The cloud is currently an important place. But beware, because if your computing power is up in the sky you need a pretty solid connection to it.
The move to the cloud is here to stay. You as an Enterprise or organization have discovered the benefits of infrastructure available as a Service. But with all that computing power up in the cloud you do need to be sure you are able to access that power when you need it.
You need end-to-end control over the road leading to that mission critical infrastructure in the cloud of choice. You want a stable, predictable, low latency connection that is always on, so you can harness the power of the cloud when and how you need it.
The NL-ix network delivers that control, stability and low latency connections. Build as a part of the Internet Core Infrastructure it is designed to be extremely resilient and as fast as possible. As a pan-European network connecting all major European datacenters it has already build the door-to-door direct connection between the datacenter you are in and all major datacenters of the cloud of your choice. Because the cloud is actually just another datacenter.