Microsoft has launched a preview service allowing customers to establish private, high-speed connections between its Azure platform and Amazon Web Services, addressing multicloud networking friction that both companies had previously downplayed. The new offering, Azure Multicloud Interconnect, works alongside AWS's equivalent service, AWS Interconnect – multicloud, letting organisations link infrastructure across the two rival clouds without the lengthy manual setup this has traditionally required. The move is notable given that AWS previously told the UK's competition regulator there were no significant barriers to multicloud strategies, while Microsoft had claimed there was little customer demand for it outside niche cases.

The service can deliver private connections of up to 100 Gbps from launch, with room to scale further, and is built on open API specifications also used in a similar AWS-Google Cloud partnership struck last year. Microsoft says the offering removes the need to separately coordinate physical connectivity, routing and monitoring, a process that could previously take weeks or months. AWS says its equivalent interconnect service now spans all three major rival platforms — Azure, Google Cloud and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure — and includes built-in MACsec security and four-nines availability. Interested customers can join the Azure preview via their Microsoft or AWS account teams.