We launched Azure ExpressRoute last year to enable you to easily extend your IT infrastructure to Azure using private, dedicated, high bandwidth connections that bypass the Internet. We have since made ExpressRoute available across 16 locations globally and have been joined by close to 20 partners so you get enterprise-grade reliability and predictable network performance no matter where you are.

Today, we’re very excited to announce that you will soon be able to access Office 365 using ExpressRoute. ExpressRoute provides dual connections per circuit for high availability and an uptime SLA of 99.9%. A growing number of enterprises are already using ExpressRoute to make sure Azure performs like it’s co-located with their on-premises infrastructure. Here’s what Jay Hunter, Head of Infrastructure and Enterprise Operations at Harper Collins, had to say:

“If you’re going to run enterprise systems in the cloud, you need enterprise-grade connectivity. ExpressRoute enables us to connect to Azure in a controlled and managed way with very high levels of security, quality of service, and bandwidth. With ExpressRoute, traffic from our London office to Azure in Dublin is about a 14-ms round trip, so the employees using our applications do not notice a performance impact.”

Once ExpressRoute for Office 365 becomes available, you will be able to access both Azure and Office 365 on one network to ensure you get the same availability guarantee, data privacy and control over performance that Harper Collins was able to realize. We expect to roll out ExpressRoute for Office 365 in the third quarter of 2015.

Please read Julia White’s blog post to learn more about this announcement and check out ExpressRoute website to learn more about the service.