Digital Realty (NYSE: DLR), a global provider of cloud- and carrier-neutral data center, colocation, and interconnection solutions, today announced new Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute peering locations in Atlanta, Brussels, and Vienna, enabling customers to establish a dedicated connection from their private IT infrastructure to Azure services via a single cross connect.
This announcement is in addition to the recent expansion of Digital Realty’s global relationship with Microsoft with the deployment of Azure ExpressRoute cloud on-ramp in Dallas, and the launch of the new Azure ExpressRoute Metro Service in Amsterdam and Zurich.
With the addition of these three locations, Digital Realty now hosts 15 Azure ExpressRoute cloud on-ramps , on its global data center platform, PlatformDIGITAL®. Other locations include: Amsterdam, Cape Town, Copenhagen, Dallas, Dublin, Frankfurt, Johannesburg, Madrid, Marseille, Paris, Sao Paulo, and Zurich. Customers can interconnect directly from any of these locations, or use virtual access to any Azure region globally via Digital Realty’s interconnection and service orchestration platform, ServiceFabric®.
Azure ExpressRoute is the lowest latency and most highly secure path to Microsoft’s Azure resources for customers, through a private connection. While in transit, customers’ traffic remains on Microsoft’s global network and does not interface with the public internet, which reduces the risk of bottlenecks and unexpected increases in latency. When creating a new connection, customers can choose a hosted connection provided by an Azure ExpressRoute partner, such as Digital Realty, or an Azure ExpressRoute Direct service from Microsoft.
This direct, low-latency capability is foundational for the current generation of hybrid IT solutions and prepares enterprises for future advanced private AI capabilities with technology like Microsoft 365 Copilot. Digital Realty acts as the physical meeting place where customers and partners can establish direct connections to Azure and build cloud-adjacent architectures to optimize hybrid IT solutions.”
“We are pleased that Microsoft has selected PlatformDIGITAL® as the physical location for their Azure ExpressRoute cloud on-ramps in another three fast-growing markets. This showcases the global relationship between our two companies, and the value our locations bring as AI and cloud connectivity hubs,” said Chris Sharp, Chief Technology Officer at Digital Realty. “We look forward to ongoing collaboration with Microsoft, to facilitate the seamless interconnection of private and public AI and IT infrastructures for our customers, as well as to solve performance challenges by deploying private infrastructure in close proximity to Azure regions.”
“Our collaboration with Digital Realty allows us to provide our customers with the enterprise-grade, predictable global connectivity they need to architect and deploy their hybrid solutions with a globally consistent experience,” said Jon Ormond, Principal PDM Manager at Microsoft Azure. “We are pleased to expand our Digital Realty relationship with Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute availability in Atlanta, Brussels, and Vienna. This means that customers in these locations have access to Azure services through PlatformDIGITAL®, Digital Realty’s global data center platform.”
