Data-center interconnect
Extend a Layer 2 segment between two facilities so clusters, storage replication and failover behave as though they share a switch fabric.
Ethernet between your sites, without a carrier in your routing.
A point-to-point Layer 2 circuit connects two locations as though a very long patch cable ran between them. Frames enter one end and leave the other. There is no provider router in the path making decisions about your traffic, and no NAT, firewall or address translation to work around.
That makes it the right tool when you need two networks to behave like one network — replication, interconnect, exchange access, or simply extending a segment between buildings.
Circuits can also be combined with IP transit: dedicated point-to-point interconnection into the Network Edge backbone with AS7201 riding over the top, so your router does not have to live in the same building as the hand-off.
Circuit characteristics
| Service layer | Layer 2 Ethernet, transparent |
| Port speeds | 100M / 1G / 10G / 25G / 40G / 100G |
| Hand-off | Port-based or VLAN-based |
| Tagging | Untagged, single tag or trunked |
| Protocols carried | Any Ethernet payload, IPv4 and IPv6 |
| Jumbo frames | Supported where the path allows |
| Topologies | Site to site, site to data center, site to IXP |
| Diversity | Diverse physical paths available on request |
| Combined with | AS7201 IP transit |
Use cases
What people actually build with these.
Internet exchange access
Reach an exchange point from a site that is not in that building. Your port at the IX, your BGP sessions, delivered over our transport.
Backup and replication
Move bulk replication traffic off your Internet circuit and onto dedicated transport where it will not compete with production.
Transit backhaul
Carry AS7201 IP transit from the hand-off point back to your own router, in your own rack, at your own site.
Office to colocation
Connect a corporate network to a colocation footprint without putting that traffic on the public Internet.
Carrier and partner interconnect
Private network-to-network hand-off with a partner, supplier or downstream network.
Hand-off and design
Tell us the two ends and how you want it presented.
Every circuit is engineered rather than picked off a menu. What we need from you is short:
- Both end-point addresses or facilities
- Capacity required, and expected growth
- Port type and connector at each end
- Tagging model — untagged, single VLAN or trunk
- MTU your application needs
- Whether you need diverse physical paths
- Whether IP transit should ride the same circuit
Why Layer 2 rather than a VPN
- No encryption overhead or tunnel MTU problems to solve
- Deterministic path instead of whatever the Internet is doing today
- Protocols that do not survive NAT keep working
- Latency and jitter behave predictably
- Your addressing plan does not have to change
- Bulk transfers do not compete with customer-facing traffic
Questions
Frequently asked
Is this a Layer 2 or Layer 3 service?
Layer 2. The circuit is transparent Ethernet — we carry your frames between end points and do not participate in your Layer 3. Your addressing, routing protocols and VLAN plan stay yours.
Can I run multiple VLANs over one circuit?
Yes. We can deliver a port-based circuit that carries all tags, or a VLAN-based circuit that carries specific tags, depending on how you want the hand-off structured.
Do you support jumbo frames?
Yes, where the underlying path supports it. Tell us the MTU your application needs and we will confirm what we can deliver on that route.
What are these circuits typically used for?
Data-center interconnect, replication and backup traffic, reaching an Internet exchange from a site that is not in that building, extending a network between offices and colocation, and carrying IP transit from a hand-off point back to a customer router.
Can a Layer 2 circuit carry my IP transit?
Yes — a common design is dedicated point-to-point transport into the Network Edge backbone with AS7201 transit riding over it, so the customer router does not have to sit in the same building as the hand-off.