Advanced Computing in the Age of AI | Thursday, April 18, 2024

Verizon Cloud Interconnect Adds AWS 

Verizon's Enterprise Solutions unit is expanding connections to its private IP cloud interconnect service to include Amazon Web Services.

Verizon's Secure Cloud Interconnect (SCI) service currently works with Microsoft Azure and Verizon Cloud. The addition of AWS connections is intended to help clients manage a multi-cloud environment that enables better application performance, dynamic bandwidth application along with improved quality of service.

The carrier giant said SCI would help leverage Verizon’s cloud assets that include its private IP and managed security services along with Verizon Cloud.

"The goal is to focus on helping enterprises understand their workloads and decide when and how to move them to the cloud," a Verizon spokesman said in announcing the expanded cloud connection services.

The company said it also expanding access to SCI as more enterprises deploy hybrid clouds. Thierry Sender, Verizon's technology director, added in a statement that the cloud interconnect service seeks to offer enterprises the appropriate mix of security, private connectivity and performance while supporting a range of applications and use cases.

Verizon said SCI would use AWS Direct Connect for initial integration of networking and datacenter interfaces. Once integrated, users could register and select the AWS location and service information to speed provisioning of dedicated cloud connections. The carrier claimed that combining SCI with AWS Direct Connect would reduce the time needed to establish connections from days or weeks to minutes or hours.

The SCI offering is built on Verizon's private IP network that is touted as offering "any-to-any" IP connectivity along with security and quality of service comparable to private wide-area networks. The service is currently available in 170 global markets.

The expanded multi-cloud service is designed to allow enterprises to move workloads among Microsoft Azure, Verizon Cloud and, now, AWS. The expansion of the private IP network will be supported at a growing list of U.S. and international locations, including:

  • Verizon Cloud in Denver, Miami, Northern Virginia and Santa Clara, Calif., as well as Sao Paulo, London and Amsterdam.
  • Microsoft Azure in Northern Virginia and Silicon Valley immediately and London in late October.
  • Fifteen Equinix datacenters in the U.S., Europe and Asia-Pacific, including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Newark, N.J., Northern Virginia and Silicon Valley, along with Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Paris, Tokyo, Singapore and Sydney.

 

Verizon's SCI with AWS Direct Connect is available immediately in Northern Virginia, where both the carrier and the cloud service provider maintain large and growing operations, as well as Silicon Valley. The cloud interconnect service is scheduled to be available in London along with Sydney, Australia, Singapore and Tokyo by late October.

Verizon said the interconnection service also includes service level agreements for latency and packet loss.

About the author: George Leopold

George Leopold has written about science and technology for more than 30 years, focusing on electronics and aerospace technology. He previously served as executive editor of Electronic Engineering Times. Leopold is the author of "Calculated Risk: The Supersonic Life and Times of Gus Grissom" (Purdue University Press, 2016).

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