AWS Interconnect to add Microsoft Azure as multicloud networking partner later in 2026

Amazon Web Services is making it dramatically easier for enterprises to connect their cloud environments across rival providers, and Microsoft Azure is climbing aboard. AWS Interconnect, a service designed to create private, high-speed connections between Amazon’s virtual private clouds and competing platforms, is expanding its partner roster to include Azure later in 2026.

The service hit general availability on April 14, 2026, after previewing in late November 2025, and already works with Google Cloud through its Cross-Cloud Interconnect and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, which reached general availability on July 29, 2026.

What AWS Interconnect actually does

Setting up private connections between different cloud providers has traditionally been a painful, multi-week process involving custom configurations and third-party intermediaries. AWS Interconnect compresses that into a three-step process through the AWS console or command line interface, with provisioning that once took weeks now taking minutes.

The service comes with built-in 4-way resiliency, meaning connections are designed to stay up even if individual links fail. MACsec encryption secures the inter-provider links, and the whole thing is compatible with AWS Transit Gateway and Cloud WAN for broader network integration.

Pricing follows a single-fee model based on bandwidth and geography. Starting May 2026, AWS is offering one free 500 Mbps local interconnect per region.

AWS also published an open specification on GitHub, signaling it wants this to become an industry-wide standard rather than a proprietary lock-in play.

Why multicloud matters now

Salesforce is already using AWS Interconnect as an early customer, connecting its environments between AWS and Google Cloud.

Competitive dynamics and market implications

By welcoming Azure into the interconnect program, AWS is acknowledging a market reality: customers want to use both platforms. For Microsoft, joining the program gives Azure customers a smoother path to hybrid workloads that span both platforms.

The open specification published on GitHub could prove to be the most consequential element of this launch. If smaller cloud providers and specialized platforms adopt the same standard, AWS Interconnect could evolve from a point-to-point service into something resembling a universal cloud networking protocol.

The combination of minute-level provisioning, built-in encryption, and a free entry-level tier makes it harder to justify maintaining bespoke solutions.