Amazon's cloud arm is previewing a service that links Equinix data centers to AWS in a few clicks, with no cables to order and no routers to set up.
Amazon Web Services has opened a preview of a simpler way to connect a company's equipment to its cloud over a private line. The service is called AWS Interconnect - last mile, and it works with Equinix. AWS says setup takes a few clicks, so businesses no longer have to order cross-connects (physical cable links inside a data center) or configure routers.
Equinix runs 282 data centers worldwide. These are buildings where companies keep their servers and other gear. A business with equipment in one of them can now link it to AWS through a managed, private and resilient connection. Traffic between AWS and Equinix edge devices is encrypted by default using a method called MACsec.
In the AWS console, you choose an AWS Region, a speed, a Direct Connect gateway and your Equinix Fabric One project ID. AWS then creates an activation key. You enter that key in the Equinix Fabric One portal to finish. You can also start the process from the Equinix portal. Connections can be created through the console, the AWS command line tool or the API.
AWS and Equinix prepare capacity in advance across two locations and four separate links. They also handle technical settings such as BGP peering, VLANs and ASNs for you. Every connection comes with a 99.99% availability SLA, which is a written promise from AWS about uptime.
When the service becomes generally available, you will be able to scale from 1 Gbps to 100 Gbps in the console. The material gives no date for that and no pricing after the preview ends.
The service is aimed at companies that already have equipment in Equinix data centers and want a private connection to AWS. Partners can build on it using an open API package on GitHub. For those businesses, the main gain is less time and less hassle getting a secure link running.
If your business uses Equinix and AWS, the free preview in San Jose and Northern Virginia is a low-cost way to test an easier private connection.
In a hand-counted 4,500-step walk, the $180 Fitbit Edge was off by 8 steps and the $800 Apple Watch Ultra 4 by 51. Both did the job well.
Read more: A $180 Fitbit counted steps more closely than an $800 Apple WatchMajor environmental groups now use AI to study climate data and track fires, while warning that the data centers behind AI carry their own environmental cost.
Read more: Environmental groups use AI to fight climate change, despite its energy costReports say the Trump administration is weighing underwater datacenters off Maine and Alaska, and Lake Erie groups want a plan before anyone proposes one nearby.
Read more: Underwater datacenters may be next, and Lake Erie groups are worried
