AWS Interconnect Adds Microsoft Azure in Public Preview, Extending Its Multicloud Networking Spec to a Third Hyperscaler

Overview

Amazon Web Services and Microsoft launched a public preview on August 31 that lets customers establish private, high-speed network links directly between AWS and Azure, according to the AWS News Blog. The service pairs AWS Interconnect - multicloud with a new Microsoft offering called Azure Multicloud Interconnect, and connections can run at up to 100 Gbps from day one, with scope for future growth, as reported by The Register.

The launch extends a cross-cloud networking effort AWS previously built with Google Cloud, as previously reported, when AWS took that service to general availability in April with Google Cloud as the first live partner and said Azure and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure would join “later in 2026” without giving a firm date. The Azure preview is that follow-through.

What We Know

The preview is available in four AWS regions: US East (N. Virginia), US West (N. California), Asia Pacific (Sydney), and Europe (Frankfurt), according to the AWS News Blog. Customers can provision preview Interconnects through the AWS Management Console, the CLI, or an API, the same post says.

AWS describes the underlying product as “the first purpose-built product of its kind and a new way of how clouds connect and talk to each other, allowing customers to quickly provision resilient, scalable private connections to other cloud providers,” according to the AWS News Blog. With Azure’s addition, AWS says it now provides “consistent connectivity experiences across Microsoft Azure (Preview), OCI (Generally Available), and Google Cloud (Generally Available),” per the same AWS post — meaning Oracle Cloud Infrastructure has separately reached general availability since the April launch. The Register similarly reports that “AWS Interconnect – multicloud now covers all three major rival platforms: Azure, Google Cloud, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.”

Both companies frame the service as solving a networking problem that previously took weeks or months to configure by hand. Connecting Azure and AWS environments “has required careful coordination of physical connectivity, routing, provisioning, monitoring, and lifecycle management,” Microsoft said, according to The Register, calling what “should be a straightforward decision” a process that “can therefore take weeks or months to implement.”

In a statement carried by The Register, Robert Kennedy, VP of Network Services at AWS, said: “Customers told us they wanted a better way to connect workloads spanning AWS and Azure, and the old ways of doing it were clunky.” Kennedy added: “With AWS Interconnect – multicloud and Azure Multicloud Interconnect, we’re proving what’s possible when both sides commit to a high bar: MACsec security out of the box, four-nines availability, and scalability at the click of a button.” The same quote appears independently on the Microsoft Azure Blog, which credits it to Kennedy as well.

On the Microsoft side, Narayan Annamalai, Microsoft’s VP and head of product for Azure Networking Services, wrote that the new service allows customers to establish dedicated private connectivity “through a simplified experience that abstracts the underlying complexity of multicloud networking,” according to The Register. Microsoft also said the underlying open API specification “can help enable broader interoperability across hyperscale cloud providers” beyond the AWS-Azure pairing, per The Register.

The service is built on the same open specification for network interoperability that AWS published on GitHub after introducing AWS Interconnect at re:Invent 2025, according to the AWS News Blog. The Register notes the move “mirrors a similar tie-up between AWS and Google Cloud late last year, based on an open specification the pair developed for network interoperability,” adding that “those open API specifications also underpin the Microsoft-AWS solution.”

The Register also highlighted the irony of the launch: both companies had previously downplayed multicloud friction to regulators. AWS had told the UK’s competition watchdog there were no significant technical barriers to a multicloud strategy, saying “customers can multicloud, switch between cloud providers when they want to,” while Microsoft had said there was little customer interest in multicloud “other than in fairly specialized situations as it is not easy or convenient for customers,” both according to The Register.

Customers interested in joining the Azure preview are advised to contact their Microsoft or AWS account teams, The Register reports.

What We Don’t Know

Neither company has published a timeline for when Azure Multicloud Interconnect will move from preview to general availability. The Register notes that “feature availability, performance targets, and timelines may evolve as the service moves toward general availability.” Pricing for the Azure preview has not been disclosed in either company’s announcement.

Analysis

The April rollout with Google Cloud established the open specification as a credible standard by getting a second hyperscaler to commit; this preview validates that trajectory by delivering the third. With Oracle Cloud Infrastructure already at general availability and Azure now in preview, AWS’s cross-cloud networking spec has moved from a bilateral AWS-Google arrangement to something closer to an industry default among the four largest cloud providers in roughly four months. Whether Azure’s preview period surfaces the pricing and capacity questions that Google Cloud’s rollout left unresolved will shape how quickly enterprises treat cross-cloud private networking as a routine purchase rather than a custom engineering project.