
Peering will improve Microsoft cloud service latency.
Spark-owned cloud services and ICT provider CCL has upgraded its platform to allow clients to peer directly with Microsoft cloud services.
The networking enhancement offers CCL clients a direct route to Microsoft Azure and SaaS services, such as Office 365.
Dual 10Gb/s dark fibre connections between two CCL points of presence (PoPs) and separate A+B routers in Microsoft’s PoP in Auckland provide geo-redundant connectivity.
Jonathan Holt, a solutions architect at CCL, said the direct connection to Microsoft’s global network eliminated network transit “detours” which are a common source of latency issues for cloud-based applications.
“The performance of cloud services is only as good as the network connection,” said Holt. “Direct peering with Microsoft introduces more certainty and predictability to our clients’ experience in the cloud.”
CCL is also offering a managed service that provides clients with a window to network performance for Microsoft cloud services.
In May, Microsoft rolled out an ExpressRoute connection to Azure cloud services for New Z ealand users.
The service allowed customers to benefit from a dedicated private connection, bypassing the public internet to deliver predicable performance, lower latency and SLA-based connectivity to Microsoft's Azure cloud services.