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Why Data Center Interconnection Services Are Important When Choosing a Data Center Solution
When you are choosing a data center solution for your business, it’s helpful to understand the data center interconnection services that drive the solution. The cabling, Meet-Me-Rooms, carriers, cloud on-ramps and software-defined fabrics inside a data center dictate the power and flexibility of its services.
What Are Data Center Interconnection Services
Data center interconnection (DCI) services are dedicated, high-speed network links between a data center facility and an ecosystem of partners, clouds, carriers, and additional, geographically-dispersed data centers. These services ensure secure, predictable connectivity and data exchange that allows businesses to replicate data, balance workloads, ensure continuity, and connect directly to clouds, networks, and partners.
A key element of DCI is “interconnection fabric.” Interconnection fabric refers to the physical and virtual infrastructure of a data center that supports direct and low-latency connections between facilities. That includes high-capacity fiber, Ethernet, meet‑me-rooms, physical cross‑connects, exchange platforms, cloud on‑ramps, and often a software‑defined backbone
Interconnection fabric enables private network interconnection, meaning organizations can establish secure, dedicated pathways between their own data centers or with strategic partners, cloud providers, and carriers with minimal exposure to the public internet. Private network connection offers improvements to performance and security for data transfers.
A data center with Internet Exchange Point (IXP) density and high carrier density creates a rich interconnection ecosystem, as is often found in carrier hotels.
- IXP density refers to the concentration of Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) in a given region. An IXP is a physical infrastructure where multiple networks interconnect to exchange traffic. When a facility is in close proximity to, or directly hosts, an IXP, it benefits from enhanced connectivity through lower latency, reduced transit costs, and improved performance.
- Carrier density refers to the number of network service providers (NSPs) and telecommunications carriers physically present within a data center.
This density is a critical performance factor because it drastically improves data efficiency. IX density and carrier density increase direct peering within a facility, so data can travel the most efficient route possible. A dense interconnection ecosystem is a major factor in evaluating Data Center Interconnection Services. Learn more about Netrality’s Network Peering Ecosystem.
Understanding Peering vs Transit
When it comes to Interconnection, it’s important to understand the differences between peering vs. transit. A high-performing Data Center Interconnection Service will offer you the opportunity to take advantage of both.
Peering is a mutual exchange of traffic between two networks that occurs directly, often within a data center’s meet-me-room or interconnection platform, reducing latency and costs. This gives you more control over traffic between specific endpoints, but it may not provide full internet reachability. Peering is enabled by the interconnection fabric that connects networks inside the data center.
Transit involves paying a third-party provider – like an Internet Service Partner (ISP) – to carry traffic to destinations across the entire internet. It offers universal reach, but with recurring bandwidth costs and less direct path control.
Many interconnection fabrics support both peering and transit models, so you can mix selective peering for performance and cost savings with limited transit for comprehensive reach.
At Netrality, our data center interconnection fabric enables enterprises to seamlessly blend peering and transit. This hybrid approach gives customers the flexibility to control traffic flows where they matter most, without sacrificing the universal connectivity their business demands.
The Business Impact of Interconnection
Now you understand what Interconnection is. But, why do Interconnection Services matter when choosing a data center? Let’s look at three major topics where Interconnection can make a measurable difference to your bottom line.
- Lower Latency. Google’s famous 2009 study “Speed Matters” identified that additional latency of less than 400 milliseconds reduced search traffic 0.2% to 0.6%. Google later revisited this topic with Deloitte in a 2020 study titled “Milliseconds Make Millions” that found that on the modern internet, even a 100 millisecond improvement can increase conversions from 8-10% in retail and travel verticals.
In 2025, milliseconds still matter, whether you’re optimizing for user experience or conversions. This is especially true for latency-sensitive workloads like real-time analytics, high-frequency trading platforms, and AI inference engines. Data Center providers have many tools at their disposal to optimize for latency, including cloud edge storage [LINK TO BLOG ONCE POSTED]. Interconnection is not just one of those tools – it acts as a multiplier, improving latency benefits through its physical and virtual fabric and carrier density. - Cost Optimization. Interconnection is a powerful tool for network cost optimization, primarily by enabling a strategic shift away from more expensive bandwidth costs. The most direct mechanism for this is peering; by establishing direct connections with partners, cloud providers, and other networks at an internet exchange, businesses can offload a significant volume of their traffic.
By moving large volumes of traffic off paid transit links and onto direct peering relationships, businesses can dramatically reduce their monthly bandwidth bill and potentially lessen data egress fees. The cost of a port at an IXP is generally a fixed, predictable fee that is far lower than the variable, usage-based cost of sending the same traffic through a transit provider. - Resilience & Redundancy. Interconnection services enhance day-to-day data resilience of your data transit. ITIC’s 2024 Hourly Cost of Downtime Survey found that just one hour of downtime can cost mid-size and large enterprises more than $300,000 – or $5,000 a minute.
With Interconnection Services, if a primary carrier connection experiences a fiber cut, equipment failure, path congestion, or any other performance degradation, workloads can be automatically and seamlessly re-routed through an alternate provider’s network.
Plus, Interconnection is an ingredient in larger-scale business continuity strategy for business data. By using interconnection services to establish private, high-speed links to a secondary, geographically diverse data center, a business can help you withstand a complete location failure. Learn more in our recent article on Colocated Disaster Recovery.
Key Data Center Interconnection Features to Evaluate
Cross-Connects
A cross-connect is a physical, direct cable connection within a data center that links a customer’s equipment to another party’s, such as a network provider, cloud on-ramp, or business partner. Cross-connects are what enables interconnection in a Meet-Me-Room (MMR). Without them, interconnection as a whole is not possible.
When evaluating cross-connects, the key differentiating factors to look for include the types of cabling offered, such as high-bandwidth fiber, cost-effective copper, and radio frequency (RF)-suited coax. Also, be sure to check out the provider’s SLA guarantees! Focusing on both the promised install time for new connections and the guaranteed uptime (e.g., 99.999%).
Internet Exchanges (IXs)
An Internet Exchange Point (IXP or IX) is a physical infrastructure and common meeting point where independent network operators, like ISPs and content providers, connect to exchange traffic directly with one another.
The key differentiating factor of an IXP is the richness of its participant list, which creates valuable peering opportunities with specific networks. By connecting to an IXP within a data center, a business can establish direct connections to networks that are critical to its operations. This provides better routing by creating a shorter, more direct path for data, bypassing intermediary networks and resulting in lower latency, cost savings, and higher performance.
Cloud On-Ramps & SDN Fabrics
Cloud on-ramps provide dedicated, private, high-performance access into a public cloud provider’s network. These connections can be established directly within a data center or provisioned through a Software-Defined Networking (SDN) fabric, which enables rapid, automated, and scalable connectivity across multiple clouds.
When evaluating a data center, a critical factor is the variety and quality of its On-Ramp Partners, which fall into two categories: the direct on-ramps to cloud providers themselves and the network-as-a-service (NaaS) platforms that can also facilitate connections to the cloud, like Megaport and PacketFabric. A top-tier facility must offer direct, physical access to major hyperscalers like AWS (via AWS Direct Connect), Google Cloud Platform (via Google Cloud Interconnect), Oracle Cloud, and more.
Blended IP & Dark Fiber
Blended IP is a managed internet service that uses border gateway protocol (BGP) to route traffic across multiple upstream carriers, providing a single connection that delivers higher resiliency, improved performance, and simplified management compared to relying on a single provider.
Dark Fiber refers to unused, unlit optical fiber strands that customers can lease and light with their own equipment, giving them full control over private, scalable backbone capacity. Together, these options provide enterprises with both optimized internet reach and the ability to build private, high-capacity transport networks.
When evaluating physical infrastructure, the choice between dark fiber vs. lit services (like wavelengths) is crucial: dark fiber offers control, scalability, and privacy for your data. This is often deployed in resilient metro fiber rings, which create redundant physical paths around a city.
Network Scalability
Scalability in interconnection refers to the inherent capacity and ease with which a business can expand its network connectivity, both in terms of sheer bandwidth and the number of connections, without major architectural overhauls or service interruptions.
Scalable interconnection should be as simple as ordering more bandwidth on an existing port or provisioning a new virtual connection via an SDN platform. This flexibility is a hallmark of a future-proof data center, which is designed from the ground up with ample power, space, and capacity in its meet-me-rooms to support unlimited growth.
Netrality’s Interconnection Ecosystem Gives You an Edge
Netrality’s Data Center Interconnection Services are Carrier-Neutral & Network-Dense, offering strategic Edge Locations, customer-first provisioning, and built-in cloud fabric – plus scalable power and space for your business.
Bring all of the benefits of Interconnection to your business today. Discuss your business’s requirements with a Netrality Sales Engineer today.
