Interconnection is more important than ever for modern enterprises. With remote working and increasing bandwidth demands, large enterprises can utilise interconnection services at IXPs to improve their products and accelerate their digital transformation efforts. <\/p>\n\n
But what is interconnection? How did it start? Why is it so important? If you\u2019re new to this important part of digital infrastructure or are considering leveraging interconnection for your business, read on! <\/p>\n\n
As public and hybrid cloud infrastructures became viable options for enterprises, users needed a way to connect their various instances together. Interconnection offers businesses an efficient and cost-effective way to use resources from multiple providers through low-latency, high availability connections. <\/p>\n\n
When businesses began using the internet in the 90s and 00s, usage was much more predictable than it is now. Organisations knew how many employees would need network access, where they would be working, where data generation would be taking place, and how much data would be travelling over the corporate LAN and WAN. These are all factors that remote working and rapid scaling have made impossible today. <\/p>\n\n
Enterprise applications were usually custom-built and lived in the \u201cserver room\u201d of the business HQ, where those in charge of server maintenance would work in the same building. In those days, interconnection meant ensuring individual servers in these rooms were connected together, and that key teams had access to the applications on those machines. <\/p>\n\n
Multiprotocol<\/em> label switching became a popular networking option for enterprises looking for reliable performance. It was predictable, and delivered low latency with minimal packet loss which was ideal for growing workloads. However, MPLS could be very expensive, which led to slow deployments and constrained capacity. <\/p>\n\n Enterprises (or rather their chosen network providers) would have to physically run cables between site locations, a costly process which could sometimes take months to complete. The 21st century cloud boom happened at the same time that network operators were investing heavily in their infrastructure. The cloud offered an uber-cheap, accessible alternative to on-premise infrastructure, and many expected enterprises to simply \u201clift and shift\u201d their workloads to this new-founded technology. <\/p>\n\n Although many organisations did begin to leverage cloud technology, most opted for a hybrid model rather than full migration. Enterprises<\/em> slowly shifted what applications they could into the cloud but still maintained their on premise data centres for apps they didn\u2019t want to, <\/em>or couldn\u2019t, move. This further drove the requirement for interconnection. <\/p>\n\nAlong came cloud computing<\/strong> <\/h5>\n\n