Equinix and Microsoft have added the option to connect directly from the former's data centers to the latter's Windows Azure cloud services without using the public internet.

The idea is that more enterprises will use public cloud services if they have the option to avoid unreliability and security risks of the internet when connecting internal infrastructure to the cloud. The two companies first announced the deal in October, and have now launched the trial version of the service, called ExpressRoute.

A customer can install equipment at an Equinix data center either in Washington, D.C., or in the Silicon Valley, and connect privately to Windows Azure infrastructure installed at those facilities. Microsoft says these are only initial locations, and more will be added in the future, but once you are connected at one site, you are instantly connected to all Windows Azure regions in the US.

Opportunity in being an intermediary

Bringing direct links to public clouds into colocation data centers is considered a big opportunity by data center providers, for whom it is a great way to attract more enterprise customers to their facilities. Equinix, as well as its competitors, such as CoreSite, Telx and Telecity, have made similar arrangements with Amazon Web Services, the world's largest public-cloud provider, whose cloud-sans-internet service is called Direct Connect.

In addition to data center providers, both Amazon and Microsoft have made deals with network carriers who can directly connect an enterprise WAN to the cloud. Microsoft's initial ExpressRoute carriers are AT&T and Level 3.

Generally, Amazon has a much more developed offering in this area, with nearly 30 network carriers and data center providers on its Direct Connect partner list, and data centers where the service is available in five US locations as well as in Singapore, Australia, Japan, Ireland and Brazil.

What does it cost?

Connecting through an Equinix data center on a pay-as-you-go basis will cost you US$300 per month for a dual-port 1Gbps link and $5,000 per month for 10Gbps. You get a discount if you sign up for a six- or a 12-month plan.

These are preview prices, which are half of what the services will cost when they are not in preview mode.

More speed options are available if you go directly to the network service providers, albeit there are no options above 1Gbps. Microsoft will charge you from about $200 per month for a 10Mbps link via AT&T or Level 3 to $4,800 for a 1Gbps one.

There is also a 20-30% discount for a six-to-12-month commitment, and using the trial version of the service directly through network carriers also costs half of its actual price. This is also what Microsoft is charging, not counting whatever charges the carriers may impose.

If you choose to connect to Azure from an Equinix data center, you will also end up paying for outbound data transfer beyond 15TB with a 1Gbps link and 250TB with a 10Gbps link. There are no data transfer charges when connecting directly via a carrier.

Amazon's Direct Connect pricing structure is different. The company charges for the links on a per-hour basis. Links range from 50Mbps for $0.03 per hour to 10Gbps for $2.25 per hour.

Unlike Microsoft, however, Amazon charges for all outbound data transfer (from $0.02 per Gb to $0.11 per Gb, depending on the location). In-bound data transfer is free.

Cloud is one of the key market segments Equinix is planning to focus on this year, the company's CEO Stephen Smith said on its Q4 2013 earnings call earlier this week, and direct links between enterprises and cloud providers are a big part of this strategy. Enterprise CIOs, he said, will treat private access to cloud services as a business priority, and Equinix is positioning itself as an enabler.

The Redwood City, California, colocation company is not alone in this line of thinking, judging by the amount of service providers offering Amazon Direct Connect services. This is one of the ways for colocation companies to grab share of the cloud computing market without becoming cloud providers themselves.

It is a way for them to compete for the same customers that use hybrid-cloud services from the likes of Rackspace or CenturyLink – providers that have both standard colocation and cloud services and can offer an integrated hybrid solution to an enterprise.