Data Centre
Connectivity
High-speed connectivity between your data centre presence and the rest of your estate. Cross connects and NNIs that link your data centre, or your existing MPLS provider’s, into the Cloud Gateway platform, and out to cloud, sites, networks and the internet.
What is Business Everywhere: DC Interconnect?
Business Everywhere: DC Interconnect connects your data centre presence into the Cloud Gateway platform and onward to everywhere it needs to reach. Where you, or your MPLS provider, share a data centre with Cloud Gateway, we establish a direct, high-performance connection and extend it across the rest of your network, without additional infrastructure investment.
It works in one of two ways. A cross connect is a direct fibre link between your rack and ours: we issue a Letter of Authority, you arrange the cable run with the data centre provider, and the connection is live. An NNI (network-to-network interface) connects Cloud Gateway to a third-party provider, typically an existing MPLS network, with the same Letter of Authority process and a connection designed and configured together with your provider.
Either way, the result is a dedicated, low-latency path from your data centre to cloud environments, other sites, third-party networks and the internet, integrated into the platform rather than bolted alongside it.
Cloud Gateway operates points of presence in five UK data centres: Equinix LD8 (London), Equinix MA3 (Manchester), Ark Cody Park (Farnborough), Ark Spring Park (Corsham) and Telehouse North (London).
Benefits of Business Everywhere: DC Interconnect
Cross connects and NNIs are dedicated connections, minimising latency and maximising throughput between your data centre and everything it reaches.
If you or your provider share one of our five UK data centres, we extend your existing footprint rather than asking you to build new infrastructure.
The Letter of Authority process works the same whether you’re connecting your own data centre or a third-party MPLS provider, so you connect how and where you need without being locked to one supplier or technology.
Once connected, your data centre reaches cloud environments, sites, third-party networks and the internet through the same platform, governed and monitored in one place.
DC Interconnect augments your existing infrastructure rather than replacing it, supporting hybrid, multicloud and phased modernisation without a rebuild.
What's included
Cloud Gateway designs the connection, generates the Letters of Authority between us and your data centre or MPLS provider, configures the link, and runs it as part of your platform. Cross connect and NNI options are both available, with the design tailored to your footprint and the destinations you need to reach.
The connection integrates with the wider platform, so your data centre path sits alongside cloud, WAN, SD-WAN and security capabilities under one operating model, visible through the Cloud Gateway Portal.
Related data centre services
Two adjacent services sit alongside DC Interconnect for organisations with specific data centre requirements.
- Core Connect provides managed switching inside your data centre cabinets. Cloud Gateway supplies, installs and remotely manages a pair of resilient, dual-redundant switches (up to 38 x 10GbE ports each), connecting your infrastructure into the platform without you having to buy, house or maintain the hardware. Sold on a per-port model, so you light up capacity as you need it, with options including inter-data-centre Layer 2 services, MACsec encryption and link aggregation (LACP).
- Transit Only Connectivity is a high-bandwidth path (1Gbps to 10Gbps) for moving large volumes of data from a data centre to a cloud provider, for example during a migration. Because it carries trusted data centre-to-cloud traffic, it runs separately from your production network and outside the platform’s security inspection, keeping bulk transfer off your main bandwidth and away from production performance. Transit Only is a supplementary service that runs alongside an existing Cloud Gateway platform.
Our case studies
Organisations
we’ve helped
Common questions about Business Everywhere: DC Interconnect
What is a cross connect?
A cross connect is a direct physical fibre link between two racks in the same data centre. Where you share a data centre with Cloud Gateway, we issue a Letter of Authority, you arrange the cable run with the data centre operator, and the connection links your infrastructure into the platform. Where Cloud Gateway connects to you, the responsibilities are reversed.
What is an NNI?
An NNI (network-to-network interface) is a connection between two networks, typically used here to link Cloud Gateway to a third-party MPLS provider. The Letter of Authority process is the same as for a cross connect, and we design the connection together with your provider.
Which data centres is Cloud Gateway present in?
Cloud Gateway operates points of presence in Equinix LD8 (London), Equinix MA3 (Manchester), Ark Cody Park (Farnborough), Ark Spring Park (Corsham) and Telehouse North (London).
What's the difference between DC Interconnect and Core Connect?
DC Interconnect is the connection between your data centre presence and the platform. Core Connect is managed switching hardware Cloud Gateway places and runs inside your cabinets to connect your infrastructure in. Many customers use DC Interconnect alone; Core Connect suits those who want Cloud Gateway to own the switching layer too.
What is Transit Only connectivity for?
Transit Only is a high-bandwidth data centre-to-cloud path for moving large volumes of data, typically during a migration. It runs separately from production traffic and outside the platform’s security inspection, so bulk transfer doesn’t affect your main network’s bandwidth or performance. It’s available as an add-on to an existing platform.
Connect your data centre
to everything it needs to reach
Most providers treat the data centre as one more circuit to sell. Cloud Gateway connects your existing footprint into a platform that reaches cloud, sites, networks and the internet, designs and runs the link from end to end, and gives you one place to see it. One platform, one UK team, one point of accountability.