Direct Connect
AWS Direct Connect is a service that provides a dedicated, private network connection between a customer's on-premises data center (or colocation facility) and AWS, bypassing the public internet entirely for lower, more consistent latency…
Definition
AWS Direct Connect is a service that provides a dedicated, private network connection between a customer's on-premises data center (or colocation facility) and AWS, bypassing the public internet entirely for lower, more consistent latency and higher guaranteed bandwidth than a standard VPN.
Overview
Direct Connect (and its equivalents at other providers, such as Azure ExpressRoute and Google Cloud Interconnect) addresses the limitations of internet-based connectivity — variable latency, unpredictable bandwidth, and the inherent security exposure of traffic traversing the public internet — by establishing a dedicated physical network link from a customer's location into the cloud provider's network, typically via a colocation facility where the customer's equipment and the provider's infrastructure are physically cross-connected, or through an authorized Direct Connect Partner who provides last-mile connectivity to the customer's own facility. Once established, Direct Connect offers dedicated bandwidth (from 50 Mbps hosted connections up to 100 Gbps dedicated connections) with consistent, low-latency performance that isn't subject to public internet congestion, and it typically reduces data transfer costs compared to standard internet egress pricing for high-volume traffic. Customers can provision Virtual Interfaces (VIFs) over a Direct Connect link — private VIFs for connecting to VPC resources, and public VIFs for reaching AWS public services (like S3) without traversing the internet — and typically deploy redundant connections across multiple Direct Connect locations for high availability, since a single physical connection is itself a point of failure. Direct Connect is aimed at organizations with substantial, sustained traffic between their own infrastructure and AWS — large-scale hybrid cloud deployments, big data pipelines moving large datasets regularly, latency-sensitive applications like real-time trading systems, or enterprises with strict compliance requirements around network-level data isolation. It requires more setup lead time and cost than a site-to-site VPN (provisioning a physical cross-connect can take days to weeks, plus ongoing port-hour and data transfer charges), which is why it's typically adopted only once traffic volume or latency/compliance requirements justify the investment, often alongside a VPN as an interim or failover connection.
Key Features
- Dedicated, private physical network connection bypassing the public internet
- Consistent, low latency and guaranteed bandwidth unaffected by internet congestion
- Bandwidth options ranging from 50 Mbps (hosted) to 100 Gbps (dedicated) connections
- Virtual Interfaces (VIFs): private VIFs for VPC access, public VIFs for AWS public services
- Typically reduces data transfer costs for high-volume traffic vs. standard internet egress
- Provisioned via colocation facilities or Direct Connect Partners for last-mile connectivity
- Requires longer lead time to provision than a VPN — physical cross-connects, not instant setup
- Often deployed redundantly across multiple locations, sometimes paired with VPN failover