AWS and Microsoft Azure launched a public preview on August 31, 2026, for direct, on-demand private networking between AWS and Azure. The announcement extends AWS Interconnect – multicloud beyond its existing Google Cloud and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure relationships, giving AWS a common multicloud-connectivity model across the three major non-AWS cloud providers it identifies. 
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The important qualification is availability: Azure connectivity is in Public Preview, so the published feature set, regional coverage, and production-readiness expectations should not be treated as final.
How AWS Interconnect and Azure Multicloud Interconnect fit together
The service is designed as a coordinated connection between two provider-side products:
- AWS Interconnect – multicloud provides the AWS-side managed connection from an Amazon VPC.
- Azure Multicloud Interconnect provides the corresponding Azure-side integration.
Together, the services are intended to establish a managed private Layer 3 path between AWS and Azure environments. The design abstracts much of the underlying networking work, reducing the need for customers to deploy physical routers or construct their own on-premises routing path. 
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The providers say they are using a standardized open API specification rather than building a one-off bilateral interface. AWS introduced that multicloud approach at re:Invent 2025 and published an open specification through a public GitHub repository so other cloud providers could adopt the model. 1013
Provisioning is handled through AWS’s Direct Connect console
AWS’s documented workflow is intended to reduce the number of cross-provider provisioning steps. Customers can go to the AWS Direct Connect console, choose AWS Interconnect, create a multicloud interconnect, select the destination cloud provider and regions, and specify the required bandwidth. Preview providers are marked with a Preview label in the console. 
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The preview has operational limits. AWS documentation says previews are limited to one interconnect per customer per supported Region. It also says preview connections can be used at no cost during the preview period, subject to the applicable preview terms. 12
Initial regions and bandwidth
The supplied announcement identifies four AWS-side locations for the Azure preview:
- US East (N. Virginia)
- US West (N. California)
- Asia Pacific (Sydney)
- Europe (Frankfurt)
The available evidence does not identify every corresponding Azure-region name authoritatively, so it would be premature to present a complete region-pair table. 67
Microsoft describes a path to connectivity of up to 100 Gbps at general availability. That figure should not be read as a guarantee that the full capacity is available during the initial preview. 5
Security, redundancy, and availability claims
AWS and Microsoft position the service around private connectivity, built-in resiliency, and simplified operations. Microsoft specifically highlights MACsec encryption, four-nines availability, and scalability as design goals for the jointly delivered service. The supplied material also describes an underlying quad-redundant architecture. 56
These are vendor-stated characteristics and commitments. Because the Azure offering is still in public preview—and because the supplied sources do not independently verify every preview-specific implementation detail—customers should confirm current regional, bandwidth, SLA, and architecture documentation before using the service for production or regulated workloads.
Where Azure fits in AWS’s multicloud portfolio
Azure is not a standalone departure from AWS’s multicloud strategy. AWS says AWS Interconnect – multicloud now covers:
- Microsoft Azure
- Google Cloud
- Oracle Cloud Infrastructure
The service originally launched with Google Cloud as its first launch partner, and AWS documentation separately lists regional AWS–Google Cloud pairings such as Northern Virginia to Northern Virginia and Northern California to Los Angeles. 10
Adding Azure gives customers a similar provisioning experience for another major cloud provider. It also gives AWS a broader test of whether a shared integration model can work across competing hyperscalers rather than only within a single bilateral partnership.
Why AWS and Microsoft collaborated
The stated motivation is customer demand. Organizations increasingly distribute applications, data, and AI workloads across multiple clouds, but cross-cloud networking can require separate providers, routing designs, provisioning handoffs, and operational processes. AWS and Microsoft present their collaboration as a way to reduce that bespoke work and make private connectivity more consistent. 56
The partnership is notable because the companies remain direct competitors in cloud infrastructure. The common API specification offers a practical reason to cooperate: each provider can preserve its own cloud networking service while making the connection process more standardized for customers and potential future participants. 513
What the providers say comes next
AWS and Microsoft envision expanding the number of regional pairings and increasing capacity over time. Microsoft also frames the initial service as a foundation for higher-bandwidth requirements beyond the first deployment. 56
The proposed model could extend beyond hyperscaler-to-hyperscaler connections. The providers point to possible participation by network-service providers and telecommunications carriers, which could help apply a more consistent provisioning and operating model across cloud, carrier, and enterprise networks. 6
That does not yet amount to an industry-wide standard. The broader implication is a potential open connectivity layer: if more providers adopt the API, organizations could provision private links across cloud and network environments with fewer custom integrations. This could become increasingly relevant as AI architectures distribute training, inference, data, edge processing, and applications across different locations. For now, however, that remains a stated direction rather than an established market-wide capability. 6
