As part of its goal to provide the best connectivity for its customers, Kordia has announced that it is now providing its customers with access to the Microsoft Azure Peering Service, one of the first service providers globally to do so.
Azure Peering Service is a collaboration with service providers to provide highly reliable and optimised internet connectivity to Microsoft services. It is an answer for customers looking for an internet-first network strategy when accessing SaaS services such as Microsoft Office 365 or other SaaS services running on Azure. By partnering with service providers, customers get the best possible Internet traffic routing for optimal and future proof connectivity to Microsoft.
The development follows Kordia’s establishment of a Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute private connection to Azure in May this year.
Kordia Head of Product, Murray Goodman, says: “by directly peering our network with Microsoft, in addition to providing private Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute interconnects in New Zealand and Australia, our customers are assured that the service they choose has met stringent interoperability tests and provides the best performance possible.”
This means all Kordia customers using Microsoft services are ‘on-net’ (on a single network) all the way to the Microsoft cloud.
“The Microsoft Azure Peering Service provides a further low-latency, high performance option – it’s like your applications are hosted in the room next door,” he notes, adding that Azure Peering Service is the ideal internet solution for those organisations seeking additional connectivity options beyond ExpressRoute which is provided over a private connection.
Microsoft Peering partners must meet stringent technical requirements and performance tests when interconnecting with Microsoft.
“It’s an assurance that working with Kordia means accessing the best solutions and support in the market,” Goodman adds.
Direct Peering provides benefits including service redundancy, high availability, low latency and performance reporting. Redundancy is achieved through Kordia’s Microsoft interconnections at geographically diverse locations, with added assurance at each location where failover is supported across two routers. If one is compromised, the other maintains service.
High availability is assured through those geographically diverse locations; with traffic taking multiple routes into the Microsoft cloud, there is no single point of failure. And low latency results from the managed shortest network path into Microsoft’s network.
“In simple terms, Microsoft Peering means Kordia Internet customers will get improved performance from their Microsoft services thanks to optimal routing between the end-user into, and across, the Microsoft Global Network,” says Goodman.
Further advantages include Value Add Reporting which makes available internet telemetry, route monitoring and alerts against leaks and hijacks; Goodman says this allows better understanding of network performance which can support optimised connectivity and service availability. “Kordia will in due course introduce this reporting into its Customer Portal,” he adds.
Kordia’s ‘best connected’ approach makes the cloud work seamlessly with secure, high speed and ultra-reliable links with all major service providers.
“New Zealand has great internet connectivity and as a nation, we’re embracing the advantages of cloud computing. Regardless of whether you are connecting to public or private cloud services, our primary focus is providing our customers with fast, reliable and secure connectivity that meets individual needs,” Goodman concludes.
