AWS Interconnect Hits GA: Private Links to Any Cloud or Your Own Site, Straight from the Console!

Hey everyone, it's me, Shiichan! Today we've got some fun networking news. Connecting clouds together always used to mean wrestling with VPN configs and colocation logistics, but now AWS takes care of all of that for you!

AWS Blog aws.amazon.com

What was announced?

On the AWS Blog, AWS announced that AWS Interconnect - multicloud is now generally available (GA). At the same time, a new AWS Interconnect - last mile capability launched for connecting on-premises sites and data centers to AWS. Both are managed services that let you spin up private connections with dedicated bandwidth right from the AWS console. You can find the details in the AWS Interconnect documentation.

The story so far

Until now, linking clouds or sites with private connections meant configuring VPNs by hand, coordinating colocation facilities, and managing third-party network fabrics - a lot of moving parts. Interconnect takes all that complexity off your plate with turnkey connectivity.

What changes

Multicloud is a managed Layer 3 connection between AWS and other clouds, and traffic stays on private networks the whole way - it never touches the public internet. The first partner is Google Cloud (available now), with Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud (OCI) coming later in 2026. Physical links are encrypted with IEEE 802.1AE MACsec, and connections span at least two physical facilities for resiliency.

Last mile connects on-premises locations, branch offices, and data centers to AWS through participating network providers. It automatically provisions four redundant connections across two physical locations, with MACsec encryption and Jumbo Frames on by default. You can pick bandwidth from 1 Gbps to 100 Gbps, and there's a 99.99% availability SLA up to the Direct Connect port. The first launch partner is Lumen Technologies, with AT&T and Megaport in progress.

Dive Deep

You set up a multicloud connection in three steps. First, in the AWS console, go to Direct Connect -> AWS Interconnect -> Create and request a connection by choosing the cloud provider, regions, bandwidth, and the partner project ID. Next, use the activation key AWS gives you to finish setup on the partner cloud side. Finally, associate a Virtual Private Gateway (VGW) in Direct Connect and add routes to your VPC route tables.

A few things to watch: the IP address ranges of the two clouds can't overlap, and the IPv4/IPv6 setup and MTU must match on both sides. Monitoring integrates with Amazon CloudWatch, and the Network Synthetic Monitor tracks round-trip latency, packet loss, and bandwidth utilization for you.

Pricing is a flat hourly rate for the capacity you request, billed prorata by the hour. It varies by region pair (distance matters), so check the multicloud pricing page and the last mile pricing page. If you use AWS Cloud WAN with global routing, traffic can cross multiple regions, which also affects your total cost.

By the way, the connection spec is published on GitHub under the Apache 2.0 license, and this reference architecture write-up is handy for real-world designs.

Wrap-up

• AWS Interconnect - multicloud is now GA: a managed Layer 3 private connection between AWS and other clouds, starting with Google Cloud (Azure and OCI later).
• New AWS Interconnect - last mile connects on-prem and branch sites to AWS: four redundant links across two locations, MACsec and Jumbo Frames by default, 1-100 Gbps, 99.99% SLA, with Lumen first.
• Both come with MACsec encryption and CloudWatch monitoring, and you can change bandwidth from the console. Pricing varies by region pair.

If you're a network or infrastructure engineer tired of wrangling VPNs and colocation, this one's for you!