AWS Direct Connect provides a dedicated private connection between your on-premises network and AWS — delivering consistent bandwidth, predictable latency, and lower data transfer costs for workloads that demand more than the public internet can reliably provide.
RLM advises enterprises on Direct Connect architecture, port sizing, redundancy design, and provider selection — ensuring your AWS connectivity is reliable, cost-effective, and appropriately resilient for the workloads it must support.
A structured advisory process — from discovery and market evaluation to negotiation and post-deployment optimization — tailored to your specific environment and objectives.
We analyze your AWS-bound traffic patterns, latency requirements, bandwidth consumption, and application sensitivity to identify which workloads justify dedicated connectivity and what capacity is needed.
We evaluate Direct Connect partners — Equinix, Megaport, Zayo, and others — based on your colocation presence, geographic requirements, and cost profile, identifying the optimal path to AWS Direct Connect locations.
We design the Direct Connect architecture — dedicated vs. hosted connections, Virtual Interface (VIF) configuration, BGP routing policies, and the redundancy design (active-active vs. active-passive) required for your SLA commitments.
Direct Connect economics depend on port speeds, data transfer volumes, and last-mile connectivity costs. We model full TCO — including NRC, MRC, and data egress savings — against your current transit costs.
These are the dimensions that consistently separate successful deployments from costly ones — and the questions RLM will help you answer before any commitment.
Dedicated connections (1G/10G/100G) vs. hosted connections (sub-1G to 10G via partners) have different cost structures, provisioning timelines, and SLA characteristics. Match connection type to workload requirements.
Single Direct Connect connections create a single point of failure. Evaluate active-active multi-connection designs, backup VPN configurations, and the failover behavior during link failures for your critical workloads.
Public VIFs reach AWS public services; Private VIFs reach VPC resources; Transit VIFs connect to Transit Gateways. Evaluate the VIF architecture appropriate for your AWS network topology.
Average bandwidth requirements don't capture peak demand. Evaluate burst capacity headroom and how the connection handles traffic spikes without impacting latency-sensitive applications.
Direct Connect requires physical connectivity to an AWS Direct Connect location. Evaluate colocation options, partner network reach, and the cost and lead time of last-mile provisioning from your facilities.
Direct Connect data transfer rates are lower than internet egress. Quantify the expected savings based on your actual outbound data volumes — this is often the primary financial justification.
"RLM helped us rationalize our multi-cloud spend and identify over $1.2M in annual savings. Their approach was methodical and unbiased — exactly what we needed."
"Our migration was stalled for months. RLM came in, assessed the gaps, and helped us select a managed services partner that got us across the finish line in 60 days."
Start with a no-cost conversation with an RLM cloud advisor — vendor neutral, no agenda, just clarity on the right path forward.
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