Microsoft has a service called Azure ExpressRoute which provides organizations with the ability to create private, dedicated network connections to the cloud. With ExpressRoute, you can extend your on premise data center to the cloud through a high performance, dedicated network connection.
Starting later this year, Microsoft will support connect to Office 365 through an Azure ExpressRoute.
ExpressRoute delivers the benefits of public cloud, while surpassing the network reliability and privacy of the Internet. It is a great option for organizations that require premium, managed connectivity to their productivity services. You can define all aspects of your network connectivity provider’s connection from Microsoft to your users, helping ensure predictable network performance and availability. You can also use multiple ExpressRoute providers to establish ExpressRoute circuits in different geographic locations for additional redundancy and geo-resiliency.
For those organizations looking to build out hybrid implementations of Azure and Office 365, this is a welcome addition to the service.
