Slow file transfers, laggy applications, and stuttering video conference calls. These might sound like complaints from a bygone era of loud modems and clunky monitors, but they’re still plaguing workforces to this day. Back then, performance lag was usually caused by local hardware or software issues – an unsuitable OS or a lack of sufficient memory – but today, where most workloads depend on cloud-based applications, the issue stems from poorly optimized connectivity. Microsoft and DE-CIX, however, may have a solution.
In a recent survey, DE-CIX revealed that buffering and lag caused by slow Internet connectivity was costing the average worker in Germany up to an average of 46 minutes per week. Calculated over a year, that’s almost an entire week’s worth of productivity lost – not to mention the disruptive impact such hold-ups can have on other tasks. A similar study in the UK found that small-to-medium sized businesses were losing roughly 250 hours per week across their workforce due to loading times, lagging applications and connectivity outages. This isn’t just a question of bandwidth or faster connections either – another report focused on the US refers to an “application performance trap”, where 82% of IT professionals are chasing faster connections while underestimating the impact of packet loss and the performance of their connectivity.
Microsoft and DE-CIX are both working to ensure that essential cloud-based apps work more reliably for businesses. The Microsoft Azure Peering Service (MAPS) optimizes SaaS application access by improving network routing and reducing latency, and unlike traditional cloud access that relies on the public Internet, MAPS establishes direct connections between enterprises and Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure, ensuring faster, more stable, and more secure data flow.
What is MAPS and how does it work?
MAPS has been designed to tackle one of the most common yet overlooked connectivity challenges in the modern workplace: ensuring that business-critical SaaS applications perform smoothly and reliably. When employees access cloud-based tools like Teams or Outlook, their data often travels through multiple network “hops” on the public Internet, increasing the likelihood of latency, packet loss, and performance bottlenecks, particularly during peak times. MAPS bypasses this inefficient routing by establishing direct, high-priority connections between enterprises and Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure. This ensures predictable latency, improved performance, and greater network stability, helping businesses eliminate the disruption plaguing their teams.
From a technological standpoint, MAPS is a peering service that the software provider implements and provides through several service providers. For example, MAPS partners such as DE-CIX must operate a network, have redundant locations, and run their own fully staffed Network Operations Center (NOC). This is how Microsoft aggregates peering traffic while ensuring that support costs remain manageable. For businesses with redundant connectivity, multi-provider setups, and ideally a colocation data center, implementing MAPS is straightforward – they simply need an Autonomous System Number (ASN) and routing equipment, which is often already in place for larger enterprises. There is no minimum bandwidth requirement.
Security and cost benefits of MAPS
Beyond improving performance, MAPS offers significant security advantages by virtually eliminating exposure to Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks. Since MAPS establishes a direct connection between enterprises and Microsoft’s cloud, it bypasses the risks associated with routing sensitive data over the public Internet. This ensures that business-critical applications are not only faster but also better protected from cyber threats that commonly target cloud-based services.
Then there’s the potential cost-saving. Unlike traditional cloud connectivity models that often come with unexpected data transfer fees, MAPS does not incur cloud egress charges for SaaS applications. Businesses that rely heavily on Microsoft 365 services will benefit from consistent performance without hidden costs, making it a scalable and predictable solution for reducing lag and alleviating productivity bottlenecks caused by connectivity issues.
DE-CIX and MAPS
While Microsoft provides the MAPS framework, its effectiveness relies on a robust interconnection ecosystem, and this is where DE-CIX plays a crucial role. As a global Internet Exchange operator, DE-CIX facilitates direct, high-performance connections to Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure, ensuring that businesses can take full advantage of MAPS without the complexities of managing their own network peering arrangements. By leveraging its global interconnection platforms, DE-CIX enables enterprises to seamlessly integrate MAPS into their existing connectivity strategy, increasing their network’s efficiency while bolstering its resilience.
The availability of MAPS through DE-CIX extends across Europe, Scandinavia, the US, Turkey, and India, offering businesses a much-needed boost in SaaS performance with low-latency, secure, and predictable cloud access. As more enterprises shift their workloads to the cloud, direct interconnection services like MAPS are becoming an essential part of a future-proof connectivity strategy – not just for optimizing Microsoft 365 applications, but for improving cloud access across the board. If latency is the new currency, it’s time for businesses to cash-in.
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