Interconnection

Interconnection is the direct exchange of traffic between networks, clouds, and enterprises inside or between data centers, bypassing the public internet for better performance, security, and cost. Physical interconnection uses cross-connects within a facility; virtual interconnection uses software-defined fabrics (Equinix Fabric, Megaport, Console Connect) that provision connections between data centers on demand at bandwidths from 50 Mbps to 100 Gbps. Key interconnection targets include cloud on-ramps (AWS Direct Connect, Azure ExpressRoute, Google Cloud Interconnect), internet exchanges, carrier backbones, and business partners. Interconnection-rich facilities command premium pricing because network effects compound: each new participant makes the ecosystem more valuable. For latency-sensitive and multi-cloud architectures, interconnection density is often a bigger site-selection factor than the price per kW.