Azure ExpressRoute establishes a private connection between your infrastructure and Microsoft's global network — bypassing the public internet to deliver consistent performance for Azure workloads, Microsoft 365, and Dynamics 365 at enterprise scale.
RLM advises enterprises on ExpressRoute circuit design, peering configuration, redundancy architecture, and provider selection — ensuring your Azure connectivity is designed to meet the performance and availability requirements of your most demanding workloads.
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 Azure-bound traffic — virtual machine access, SQL MI/Azure SQL, Azure Storage, Microsoft 365, and Dynamics 365 — to identify connectivity requirements, bandwidth needs, and latency sensitivity by workload category.
We evaluate ExpressRoute connectivity providers — AT&T, Equinix, Megaport, and others — and design the circuit topology: standard vs. premium circuits, circuit size, peering types, and geographic distribution.
Microsoft 365 traffic benefits from ExpressRoute routing through Microsoft Peering. We evaluate the Microsoft Peering configuration and Global Reach design for multi-region enterprises that need inter-region connectivity via Microsoft's backbone.
We design the redundancy model — dual circuits, active-active BGP, backup VPN via Azure VPN Gateway — and test the failover behavior to ensure connectivity resilience meets your business continuity requirements.
These are the dimensions that consistently separate successful deployments from costly ones — and the questions RLM will help you answer before any commitment.
Standard vs. Premium circuits have different geographic peering scope and Microsoft 365 optimization features. Evaluate the right SKU and starting bandwidth against your projected workload growth.
Private Peering connects to Azure VNets; Microsoft Peering connects to Azure public services and M365. Evaluate which peering types your workloads require — most enterprises need both.
ExpressRoute Direct provides 10G/100G ports directly at Microsoft edge locations. Evaluate whether your volume justifies Direct over provider-based circuits.
Routing M365 traffic through ExpressRoute requires careful configuration to avoid suboptimal traffic paths. Evaluate the split-tunneling approach and traffic selectors appropriate for your M365 usage.
ExpressRoute requires connectivity to a peering location. Evaluate your existing colocation relationships, MPLS provider network reach, and the provisioning lead time for your geographic locations.
ExpressRoute has significant MRC. Quantify the performance and reliability benefit against the cost — particularly for Microsoft 365 optimization where the routing benefit may be marginal on modern internet connections.
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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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