ExpressRoute & Office 365 Performance – Still Sitting on the Fence?

Many companies, large and small are familiar with Azure ExpressRoute – a direct connection to Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure. ExpressRoute allows organizations to extend their base network into the Microsoft Cloud. It creates a direct, private link between Microsoft data centers and local network infrastructures. By doing so, ExpressRoute offers higher security, reliability, and speeds with lower latencies than typical connections over the Internet.

ExpressRoute supports three different routing domains for a myriad of services. It provides services with Private Peering, Public Peering, and Microsoft Peering to suit the network needs and capabilities of any organization. Check pricing details for more information regarding cost.

Since ExpressRoute connections do not go over the public internet, it allows organizations to work with a connectivity provider while negating heavy traffic and interaction normally seen on the internet. According to Microsoft, these connections offer higher security, reliability, and speeds, with lower and consistent latencies than typical connections over the Internet. ExpressRoute is beneficial in instances such as data migration and backup and disaster recovery while also providing perpetual reliability and security.  But are these benefits actually realized when connecting to other Microsoft services such as Office 365 or Dynamics?

According to “internet sources”, of course it does.  ExpressRoute is frequently touted as a method for boosting your performance when using Office 365 applications. Problems ranging from voice quality on Skype for Business to mailbox move performance are all solved with ExpressRoute.  And, as everyone knows, the internet does not lie!

If you do not trust everything the Internet says, and instead prefer to have actual facts, then perhaps you should attend GSX’s next technical webinar.

In the second session of GSX technical webinar series, we looked at the real performance data using Azure ExpressRoute. Does ExpressRoute make Office 365 run faster than local servers or are the trumpeted performance gains to Office 365 simply a myth?