Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute: An Emerging Standard

Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute is emerging as a de facto standard for enterprises that need fast, secure, and reliable connectivity between on-premises environments and Azure, by providing private circuits that bypass the public Internet, enhance performance, simplify hybrid networking, and ease compliance compared with traditional VPN-based approaches. While it is not a general Internet replacement and is rarely justified for smaller or low-traffic businesses, falling prices, broad ISP support, and specialist partners such as FPT mean that organizations with meaningful Azure workloads should evaluate ExpressRoute on a subscription-by-subscription basis, size bandwidth appropriately, and treat it as a strategic foundation for high-performance cloud connectivity.
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Written by

FPT Software

Published on

March 06, 2024

As the demand for faster and more secure network connections continues to rise, many businesses are actively re-evaluating traditional internet connectivity options. They are seeking approaches that can better support modern workloads, stringent security requirements, and performance-sensitive applications.

Within this context, Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute emerges as a viable solution for organizations looking to enhance the reliability and security of their connectivity to Azure beyond conventional public internet methods.

What is ExpressRoute?

Azure ExpressRoute is a Microsoft service that provides a dedicated, private network connection between your on-premises environment and Azure, bypassing the public Internet. By using this private link, organizations can move data and run cloud workloads with greater control over performance and security.

With ExpressRoute, your on-premises network effectively extends into the Microsoft cloud. This dedicated connectivity helps improve reliability, increase throughput, and enhance the protection of applications and data that rely on Azure services.

Compared to a traditional VPN over the Internet, your Internet Service Provider (ISP) normally sends traffic through cabling into the public Internet backbone. With ExpressRoute, the ISP still carries your traffic, but the circuits are wired into Microsoft's private network instead of the public Internet.

Why use ExpressRoute?

ExpressRoute offers several key advantages for organizations that need reliable, high‑performance connectivity to Microsoft cloud services:

Performance and reliability: By bypassing the public internet, ExpressRoute delivers more predictable and consistent network performance. This is especially valuable for latency-sensitive applications or large-scale data transfers that require stable throughput.

Integration with cloud services: ExpressRoute provides direct connectivity to Microsoft cloud services, including Azure and Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365). This private connection typically results in lower latency and better performance than VPN connections that traverse the public internet.

Cost savings: Over time, ExpressRoute pricing has decreased, making it a cost-effective option for many organizations. Depending on network usage patterns, it can reduce data transfer costs, optimize overall network utilization, and in some cases eliminate the need for separate VPN hardware or licenses.

Increased security: ExpressRoute uses a private connection that is not directly connected to the public internet, which automatically reduces exposure to many external threats. While you should still follow security best practices across all layers of your stack, this reduced attack surface adds an extra layer of protection. Traffic over ExpressRoute is not encrypted by default because the private circuit is considered sufficiently secure, but Microsoft offers options to encrypt data if required. For large organizations, ExpressRoute is typically adopted only when it is more cost-effective than alternatives; however, enhanced security is often cited as the primary reason to make the switch. ExpressRoute can also simplify meeting regulatory and compliance requirements such as SOC compared with VPN-based solutions.

Hybrid networks: ExpressRoute simplifies hybrid cloud connectivity for environments that combine on-premises and cloud-based assets. Most large enterprises run a mix of workloads that need high-bandwidth communication between on-premises data centers and Azure. In a typical enterprise Azure environment, as much as half of the networking components and overall complexity may exist solely to support hybrid connectivity. By connecting on-premises routers through an ExpressRoute circuit to an ExpressRoute gateway, you can remove many of these existing hybrid networking components and reduce operational complexity.

How ExpressRoute works

ExpressRoute works by letting your organization connect to the Microsoft global network through dedicated edge routers instead of sending traffic over the public Internet. This private connection allows enterprise traffic to reach Microsoft cloud services securely and predictably without traversing the public Internet.

Microsoft exposes its global network to businesses and consumers through edge routers. These are network devices that forward packets between different networks and act as controlled entry and exit points to the Microsoft backbone.

You can think of an edge router somewhat like the Wi-Fi router found in many homes in the United States: users connect to that device to reach other networks in a more secure and managed way. In a similar manner, businesses attach to an edge router that is geographically located with their Internet Service Provider (ISP) and use it to send enterprise traffic into the Microsoft network without touching the public Internet.

For more background on edge routers and how they function in general, see Cisco's overview at What is an edge router?.

ExpressRoute – Key considerations

When planning to use Azure ExpressRoute, it is important to review a few key aspects of your network, environments, and connectivity requirements so that each subscription is configured appropriately.

Network and environment complexity
Many businesses maintain multiple environments beyond their production setup, such as development and testing environments. These environments may be deployed in different Azure regions or have requirements that do not match the production environment. Because of these differences, it is advisable to evaluate the suitability and configuration of ExpressRoute on a subscription-by-subscription basis rather than assuming a single design will work for every environment.

Pricing plans and bandwidth
ExpressRoute pricing can be complex due to the variety of available offerings. While larger enterprises often need to carefully navigate this complexity, most businesses typically choose a metered data plan for their ExpressRoute Circuits, with bandwidth options ranging from 100 Mbps to 10 Gbps.

If your business needs to share data across different Azure geographies, for example across continents, an ExpressRoute Premium connection may be required. To better understand your actual bandwidth needs, you can use Network Watcher to analyze traffic patterns.

The route to high-performance Internet connectivity

ExpressRoute delivers a secure, reliable, and high-performance connectivity option for organizations that want to extend their on-premises networks into the Azure cloud. This approach allows businesses to gain the full benefits of cloud computing while still maintaining control over their network infrastructure and data.

With deep Azure expertise, a global presence across 30 countries and territories, and fast response times, FPT is well-positioned to assess whether ExpressRoute is the right fit for each organization, define the appropriate bandwidth, and provide a seamless connection from on-premises environments to the Microsoft global network.

For more details on ExpressRoute, refer to the official documentation at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/expressroute/.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why would I need faster, more secure connectivity to Azure?

As workloads move to Azure, public internet links can limit performance, add jitter and outages, and expose traffic to more threats. Latency-sensitive apps, large data transfers, hybrid setups, and regulatory demands often require more predictable, private connectivity to keep services responsive, secure, and compliant.

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What is Azure ExpressRoute and how is it different from the internet?

Azure ExpressRoute is a private, dedicated connection between your on-premises network and Microsoft’s cloud, provided via an ISP partner. Instead of sending traffic over the public internet, your circuits plug into Microsoft’s backbone, improving reliability, speed, and security for Azure workloads.

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What are the main benefits of using ExpressRoute?

ExpressRoute provides predictable latency, higher reliability, and better throughput by bypassing the public internet. It offers direct integration with Azure and Microsoft 365, can be cost-effective versus VPN and internet egress, improves security and compliance, and simplifies hybrid connectivity between on-prem and cloud.

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How does Azure ExpressRoute actually work under the hood?

Microsoft exposes its global backbone through edge routers colocated with ISPs. Your provider provisions an ExpressRoute circuit from your network into these edge routers. Traffic then flows over Microsoft’s private network to Azure regions, similar to how home devices connect to a Wi‑Fi router to reach the internet.

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What should I plan for when designing an ExpressRoute setup?

You need to assess which environments really need private connectivity, how many Azure regions you’ll span, bandwidth needs, and pricing tiers. Plan per subscription, consider dev and test separately from production, and design routing, gateways, and redundancy to match your hybrid and regulatory needs.

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Can ExpressRoute replace the Internet?

ExpressRoute is not a general replacement for the Internet; it is only used for Microsoft 365 and Azure, and there is no compelling reason to use ExpressRoute with Microsoft 365 because it is designed to be completely secure over the public Internet.

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Which is more suitable: VPN or ExpressRoute?

Cost and availability are the critical factors; ExpressRoute is now generally preferred for Azure workloads, but VPN is typically better for small or low-traffic businesses.

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Should all Azure traffic go over ExpressRoute?

Not necessarily; you should consider ExpressRoute on a subscription-by-subscription basis depending on the requirements of each environment.

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How much Wide Area Network (WAN) capacity does Microsoft have?

Microsoft has invested billions of dollars in a global fibre-optic network and partnered with thousands of ISPs worldwide, so it will not run out of capacity.

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How can partners help me adopt Azure ExpressRoute successfully?

Specialized partners can assess your workloads and traffic, size bandwidth using tools like Network Watcher, select plans and regions, and design routing, gateways, and redundancy. They then coordinate with ISPs and Microsoft to implement and validate ExpressRoute, easing risk and accelerating deployment.

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