NTT Touts Private Connection To Azure, AWS Clouds

NTT Communications has launched a service to give businesses a direct private connection to third-party public cloud services such as Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Called Multi-Cloud Connect, the service is designed to help those businesses that have to rely on the Internet (with all its associated performance issues) to access a public cloud service.

Public Clouds

The Multi-Cloud Connect service is now an optional feature on NTT Com’s Arcstar Universal One. It means customers can use NTT’s high-performance MPLS network instead of the public Internet to access their cloud service.

NTT claims that its MPLS networks offers “enhanced security and improved connectivity” thanks to its enhanced, private Layer 3 connection (not via the Internet).

It points out that enterprise adoption of cloud services (most of which are public clouds), means that these businesses are very reliant on having a stable network connection that doesn’t impact performance. And this type of setup can also cause problems for organisations with highly distributed end-users for example.

NTT  operates 130 data centres worldwide, so the communication provider is able to offer its customers a mix of on-premise, private cloud (Enterprise Cloud) and/or public cloud.

Multi-Cloud Connect has officially launched in Tokyo with direct access to Microsoft Azure and AWS cloud platforms. Users in London will have to wait until later this year. There is no word on pricing.

Private Connections

It should be noted that NTT is not the only player offering a dedicated private connection to public clouds.

Last year BT offered Azure customers the ability to bypass the public Internet when connecting to the Microsoft service.

Called the Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute, it offers a dedicated and more secure connection to a customer’s data and applications on Windows Azure. It allows customers to effectively bypass the public Internet thanks to a private connection based on BT’s IP Connect VPN service, which is available in 198 countries around the world.

And Amazon meanwhile has partnership deals with a number of service providers around the world for its AWS Direct Connect service.

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