European data center operator TelecityGroup has expanded its managed service offering with dedicated network connections into Microsoft Azure’s public cloud.

The carrier-neutral operator has announced that Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute will be available in 37 TelecityGroup locations across Europe, offering direct connections to Microsoft Azure’s public cloud.

Microsoft Azure gives customers the promise of an easy build, installation and management of applications and services in the Cloud, Microsoft Azure general manager Steven Martin said.

Customers will have direct connections between their private infrastructure located in TelecityGroup’s data centers and Microsoft Azure’s cloud platform.

This will make it a lot easier to build a workable hybrid cloud, according to Martin.

The service builds on TelecityGroup’s cloud neutral Cloud-IX platform, which it said will give the operator’s customers more options in the way they deploy applications, without restrictions caused by data sovereignty or vendor lock-in.

“Offering our customers direct connections to Microsoft Azure, via our Cloud-IX platform, strengthens and improves the already rich ecosystem found in our data centers,” Michael Tobin, CEO of TelecityGroup, said.

This week it was reported that Teletcity’s shares had leapt nearly 15% on a single day after the British-based data center operator reported a strong first quarter start to 2014.

The company’s revenue grew 9.4%, excluding the impact of currency changes, with strong trading reported in Amsterdam, Stockholm and Dublin.