Equinix will start offering Microsoft Office 365 through private connections from third quarter this year, with Sydney as one of the foundation sites.
The direct service will be available via Equinix Cloud Exchange and Azure ExpressRoute, in all 15 cities that the exchange is currently present: Sydney, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Osaka in the Asia-Pacific, along with Amsterdam, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, London, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, Silicon Valley and Washington DC.
The multinational data centre provider espoused the network predictability, availability and reliability of dedicated connections, as well as privacy from bypassing the public internet through Equinix Cloud Exchange and Azure ExpressRoute.
"Private access to Office 365 results in lower latency and higher-performing connections, thus providing business grade performance and the end-user experiences that enterprises are demanding with their adoption of software-as-a-service applications," said Equinix cloud innovation vice president Chris Sharp.
Microsoft cloud platform general manager Mike Schutz compared Office 365 via the private connections to on-premises software.
"With network performance as predictable as a customer's own on-premises environment, ExpressRoute for Office 365 is like having the full Office 365 productivity solution in your own data centre," said Schutz.
"Office 365 customers have been asking for direct connectivity to Office 365 since Azure ExpressRoute launched last year, and we're pleased that Equinix will be among the first to offer it through Cloud Exchange."
Equinix has been an Azure ExpressRoute partner since April last year, and announced last week that it would spend over $120 million building its fourth Sydney data centre in inner city Alexandria.
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