Amazon Direct Connect Features

There are several use cases for which Amazon Direct Connect is desirable, including:

Working with Large Data Sets: Transferring large data sets over the Internet can be time consuming and expensive. If you are like most businesses, you have procured just enough bandwidth to meet your web and email needs, and share that Internet connection across the entire enterprise. When you use the cloud, you can find that transferring large data sets can be slow because your business critical network traffic is contending for bandwidth with your other Internet usage. To decrease the amount of time required to transfer your data, you could increase the bandwidth to your Internet service provider, which frequently requires a costly contract renewal and a minimum commitment. With Amazon Direct Connect, you can transfer your business critical data directly from your datacenter, office, or colocation environment into and from Amazon Web Services bypassing your Internet service provider and removing network congestion. Further, Amazon Direct Connect’s simple pay as-you-go pricing, and no minimum commitment means you pay only for the network ports you use and the data you transfer over the connection, which can greatly reduce your networking costs.

Real-time Data Feeds: Applications that use real-time data feeds can also benefit from using Amazon Direct Connect. For example, applications such as voice and video perform best when network latency remains constant. Network latency over the Internet can vary given that the Internet is constantly changing how data gets from point A to B. With Amazon Direct Connect, you control how your data is routed, which can provide a more consistent network experience over Internet-based connections.

Hybrid Environments: Hybrid environments allow you to combine the elasticity and economic benefits of Amazon Web Services with the ability to utilize other infrastructure that you already own.

The table below shows connectivity options to different Amazon Web Services Regions.

*Note: The Direct Connect locations in Shanghai and Shenzhen are operated by NWCD.

If you don’t have preexisting infrastructure at one of our Amazon Direct Connect locations, don’t worry. Amazon Web Services has a growing list of Amazon Direct Connect Partners who can assist you in using the Amazon Direct Connect service. These Amazon Direct Connect Partners can help you establish network circuits between an Amazon Direct Connect location and your datacenter, office, or colocation environment, or assist you in constructing a hybrid environment.

*Note: All use of the term "partner" herein refers exclusively to a member of the Amazon Web Services Partner Network (APN).