When you want to get to work fast, you take the express route. After all, the more direct and predictable the route is, the sooner you are productive and the less it costs to get there. In 2021, about 39 million people will depend on networks, not highways, for their fastest route to work.¹ The surge in remote workers is one reason why on-net connectivity matters so much to enterprises, their business partners and customers.
Remote workers in the North Central U.S. can now take the Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute through either data center in our Chicago campus to the Microsoft cloud. By extending your on-premises networks to Microsoft Azure, you can assure a local or “LAN-like” experience with all those cloud services, from core business process apps to data analytics, and technologies such as AI and machine learning – at all available speeds, including 100G – leveraging direct fiber and virtual interconnections.
In addition to boosting return on investment from your hybrid cloud architecture, Azure ExpressRoute provides multi-region and global Azure integration via the CoreSite Open Cloud Exchange®. You also can dynamically connect to any enterprise or IT service provider deployed in our national platform of data centers through a virtual connection and easy-to-use portal.
Other than enabling you to “put the pedal to the metal,” how does working through this key interconnection point benefit your enterprise?
- Eliminates costly egress fees from Azure North Central Region
- Enhances security by taking the pubic internet out of the equation
- Boosts productivity with optimal low latency edge-to-edge app performance
- Improves regional resilience to keep systems running even during a crisis
- Optimizes data migrations and replication to enhance business continuity/disaster recovery
Connect Regionally, Compute Globally
Sometimes getting from point A to point B requires global reach. Once you are on the Azure ExpressRoute, adding ExpressRoute Premium extends your addressable market to any Azure commercial region in the world – which makes it faster and much more cost effective to capitalize on global business opportunities in places where they drive on the left side of the road, or the speed limit is marked as 130 kilometers per hour, but people go as fast as they want.
Other times, sheer horsepower is the key to achieving results. I’m thinking about a case study on Microsoft’s website that describes how medical researchers are using Azure Virtual Machines with NVIDIA Tesla graphics processing units (GPUs) to slash protein-modeling simulations from weeks to days. One of the researchers says, “Having resources in Azure is like leasing a car: Microsoft maintains the datacenter, and we just hop in the cloud and use what we need, when we need it. I have access to an infinite number of GPUs that I don’t have to procure or maintain.”
The research team accesses the Azure Virtual Machines using Azure ExpressRoute and the CoreSite Open Cloud Exchange in Los Angeles, which reminds me to say that on-net ExpressRoute connectivity is already available with CoreSite in Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, Denver and Northern Virginia.
Have you ever driven in Chicago during rush hour? If you have, you’ll understand why the availability of Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute at CH1 and CH2 can make getting to work, and doing business anywhere in the world, a whole lot faster. Enjoy the ride!
¹ www.flexjobs.com/blog/post/remote-work-statistics/
