Lightpath announced the launch of Lightpath Cloud Connect for Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute as part of its Cloud Connect service offerings. The service provides customers with direct, secure, all-fiber connectivity to Azure, improving the throughput to cloud services while also increasing network security by avoiding the public Internet. Businesses, educators, and governments continue to expand their use of cloud services to increase efficiency, simplify inhouse IT operations, and to improve the end user experience.

As organizations adopt more cloud applications and cloud data storage, higher performance connectivity to the cloud is required. At the same time, ever-increasing network security requirements make it prohibitive for organizations to connect to cloud services utilizing the public Internet. Lightpath Cloud Connect for Microsoft Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute is an all-fiber cloud connectivity solution that allows customers to connect on-premises networks directly and securely to Azure cloud services.

The solution offers Ethernet connectivity up to 10 Gbps and wavelength connectivity up to 100 Gbps. Customers across Lightpath's entire footprint have access to Azure ExpressRoute direct connectivity via onramps in Secaucus NJ, Ashburn VA, and soon in Miami FL. Lightpath owns and operates a dense, all-fiber network spanning over 20,000 route miles and connecting over 13,500 service locations throughout the New York Metropolitan area, Eastern Massachusetts, and Miami Metro.