BuildNot yet confirmed elsewhere1 publisher2 min readPublished
A hands-on lab stands up the AWS-Azure private interconnect in about 60 minutes
A dev.to author built the AWS-Azure private interconnect in about 60 minutes on an Azure Preview limited to AWS, 1 Gbps and same-region links. The lab confirms the path comes up on a single 1 Gbps circuit. Production plans have to live inside the Preview limits until Microsoft changes them.
The Engineer · Build desk
Groups affected: designs pairing Azure with non-AWS clouds, and designs over 1 Gbps or across regions, are blocked in Preview; the AWS side costs $1.37 an hour in Frankfurt; Azure is free until GA; the ExpressRoute gateway costs extra; other cloud pairs may follow the same API.
- constraint Azure + non-AWS cloud designs In Preview, Azure supports only AWS as a partner, so pairing Azure with any other cloud is ruled out for now, claim 2
- constraint Cross-region, >1 Gbps designs Preview supports only 1 Gbps bandwidth and only connections within local regions, with no cross-region connectivity, claim 2
- cost Teams paying the AWS side A 1 Gbps interconnect in Frankfurt costs $1.37 per hour, which the author puts at roughly $1000 per month, claim 14
- exposure Teams budgeting the Azure side Microsoft says it is free during public preview, with pricing to come at general availability, claim 6
- cost Azure deployers The ExpressRoute gateway is a separate resource, and the author says it will cost, claim 16
- precedent Other cloud pairs AWS publishes the API spec openly, and Azure and Google Cloud are adopting it, claim 19
| Who | How | Kind | Claim |
|---|---|---|---|
| Azure + non-AWS cloud designs | In Preview, Azure supports only AWS as a partner, so pairing Azure with any other cloud is ruled out for now | constraint | 2 |
| Cross-region, >1 Gbps designs | Preview supports only 1 Gbps bandwidth and only connections within local regions, with no cross-region connectivity | constraint | 2 |
| Teams paying the AWS side | A 1 Gbps interconnect in Frankfurt costs $1.37 per hour, which the author puts at roughly $1000 per month | cost | 14 |
| Teams budgeting the Azure side | Microsoft says it is free during public preview, with pricing to come at general availability | exposure | 6 |
| Azure deployers | The ExpressRoute gateway is a separate resource, and the author says it will cost | cost | 16 |
| Other cloud pairs | AWS publishes the API spec openly, and Azure and Google Cloud are adopting it | precedent | 19 |
What happened
- Provisioning runs on an activation key that one side generates and the other redeems, and both sides validate region, bandwidth and account before anything is built.
- AWS bills the interconnect hourly with no per-GB charge, starting at creation and rounding up to the full hour.
- In Preview the service connects only specific Azure and AWS region pairs, each tied to a physical interconnect location.
- Microsoft says the Azure side is free during public preview, with pricing to follow at general availability.
- In the author's lab the Azure VM and the AWS VM could ping each other over the circuit.
Why it matters
- constraint A design that pairs Azure with Google Cloud or OCI, spans regions, or needs more than 1 Gbps cannot use the service during Preview.
- cost One 1 Gbps AWS circuit runs about $12,000 a year at the Frankfurt rate, before any Azure-side charge.
- decision Teams weighing this against VPN tunnels or a provider cross-connect can price only the AWS half today, because Microsoft will publish Azure pricing at general availability.
- precedent With AWS publishing the API spec and Azure and Google Cloud adopting it, the activation-key flow is the pattern to expect on other cloud pairs.
The key exchange replaces a manual route that starts with a cross-connect ordered from a service provider, then virtual routers, VLANs, point-to-point addressing and BGP sessions [8]. The older Oracle Interconnect for Azure still leaves peering and routing to the operator on both sides [9]. In our view the up-front validation is where the saved time sits, since a region, bandwidth or account mismatch stops the build before any resource exists [3].
The lab is small. Azure needed an ExpressRoute gateway, a circuit with the Azure Multicloud Interconnect port type, and a connection resource joining the two [10]. AWS needed a Virtual Private Gateway, a Direct Connect Gateway and the interconnect connection itself [11]. The author kept the address spaces apart, 10.10.0.0/16 on Azure and 10.20.0.0/16 on AWS [12]. For the 60 minutes to transfer, a team would need the same shape: a fresh VPC and VNet, one circuit, one region pair and no overlapping ranges.
Neither Microsoft nor AWS says where the physical interconnect locations behind each region pair are. The author presumes colocation facilities where both have a presence [13].
Cost is where the Preview label bites. AWS charges $1.37 an hour for the author's 1 Gbps interconnect in Frankfurt, and the author rounds that to roughly $1,000 a month [14]. Multiplying 1.37 by 730 hours gives about $1,000 [17]. AWS includes one free 500 Mbps interconnect per cloud service provider per Region, but it did not apply to a 1 Gbps lab [15]. On the Azure side the ExpressRoute gateway is a separate resource, and the author expects it to cost [16].
The connectivity evidence is a ping between two VMs. A ping shows the path is up. It does not test sustained throughput against the 1 Gbps ceiling, and the lab used one circuit in one region pair.
We think this is the right way to trial a private cloud link and a thin basis for a production commitment. The service itself is well built. The limits around it are Microsoft's to lift, and the Azure price is still to come.
What to watch
- Microsoft publishing general-availability pricing for the Azure side, including the separate ExpressRoute gateway.
- Azure lifting the Preview limits: partners beyond AWS, bandwidth above 1 Gbps and cross-region connections.
- Azure and Google Cloud finishing their adoption of the AWS-published API specification.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence55
- Adoption
- Insufficient
- Hype gap−5
- Incentives
- Insufficient
- Confidence55
Claim ledger
Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.
- [1]
The post's author says the whole setup of the AWS-Azure Multicloud Interconnect took about 60 minutes.
- [2]
On the Azure side the service is still in Preview and, at the time of writing, supports only AWS as a partner, only 1 Gbps bandwidth, and only connections within local regions (no cross-region connectivity).
- [3]
Provisioning uses an activation key: one side generates it, the other redeems it, and both sides validate that region, bandwidth and account match before anything is built.
- [4]
On the AWS side, charges are hourly per interconnect, based on bandwidth and a distance-based pricing tier, with no per-GB data transfer charges; billing starts when the interconnect is created, stops when it is deleted, and is rounded up to the full hour.
- [5]
During the preview, the interconnect only works between specific Azure and AWS region pairs, each tied to a physical interconnect location.
- [6]
Microsoft says Multicloud Interconnect is free while in public preview, with pricing details to be provided once it becomes generally available.
- [7]
After the resources were deployed, the Azure VM and the AWS VM could ping each other over the Multicloud Interconnect circuit.
- [8]
Normally one would order a cross-connect from a service provider, then set up virtual routers, VLANs, point-to-point addressing and BGP sessions; with Multicloud Interconnect the cloud providers have automated all of this on top of prebuilt capacity.
- [9]
The older Oracle Interconnect for Azure still requires the user to configure peering and routing on both sides.
- [10]
The Azure side of the lab used a resource group, a VNet with a VM subnet and an ExpressRoute gateway subnet, a network security group, an Ubuntu VM, an ExpressRoute gateway, an ExpressRoute circuit with the Azure Multicloud Interconnect port type, and a connection resource tying the gateway and circuit together.
- [11]
The AWS side of the lab used a VPC with a subnet, route table and security group, an Ubuntu EC2 VM, a Virtual Private Gateway, a Direct Connect Gateway, and an AWS Interconnect - multicloud connection.
- [12]
The lab's address spaces do not overlap: 10.10.0.0/16 on Azure and 10.20.0.0/16 on AWS.
- [13]
Neither Microsoft nor AWS says where the physical interconnect locations are; the author presumes they are colocation facilities where both have a presence.
- [14]
For the author's 1 Gbps interconnect in the Frankfurt region, AWS charges $1.37 per hour, which the author puts at roughly $1000 per month.
- [15]
AWS provides one free 500 Mbps interconnect per cloud service provider, per Region; because the author used 1 Gbps, it did not apply to the lab.
- [16]
The Azure ExpressRoute gateway is a separate resource, and the author says it will cost.
- [17]
At $1.37 per hour, a month of roughly 730 hours costs about $1,000 for the 1 Gbps AWS interconnect in Frankfurt, matching the author's figure.
- [18]
A 1 Gbps AWS interconnect at $1.37 per hour comes to about $12,000 over a year of continuous running, before any Azure-side charge.
- [19]
AWS publishes the API specification openly, and Azure and Google Cloud are adopting it.
Sources
1 independent publisher whose own reporting we read for this story.
- dev.toAWS and Azure Multicloud Interconnect: Hands-On First Impressions
1 article · October 11, 2026
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