A private, dedicated physical connection from your office or data center directly to AWS — completely bypassing the public internet.

Think of it as your own private highway to AWS, instead of sharing the public road.

Why Use It?

Use Case Why Direct Connect Helps
Large data transfers (TBs daily) High, consistent bandwidth
Real-time apps (trading, streaming) Low and predictable latency
Hybrid cloud setups Seamless on-prem to AWS integration
Security & compliance Traffic never touches the public internet

How It Works

Simple Flow

Your Office → Customer Router → DX Location → AWS Router → VGW → VPC

Detailed Architecture

YOUR OFFICE              DX LOCATION (e.g. Equinix)           AWS CLOUD
────────────             ──────────────────────────           ──────────
Employees
Servers
    ↓
[Your Router] ──fiber──→ [Your Router]──cross-connect──→ [VGW] → VPC
                         [AWS Router]                              ↓
                                                             EC2 / RDS

Physical Components

Component What It Is Where
Customer Router Your physical networking device (Cisco, Juniper, etc.) Your office or DX Location
DX Location A physical data center building (e.g. Equinix) Major cities worldwide
Customer Cage Your locked equipment room inside the DX facility Inside DX Location
AWS Cage AWS's locked equipment room Inside DX Location
AWS Router AWS's physical networking hardware AWS Cage
Cross-Connect Physical fiber cable joining your cage to AWS's cage Between the two cages

Connection Types

1. Dedicated Connection