Cloudflare opens virtual on-ramps to its network via interconnection partners

Cloudflare has expanded how enterprises can reach its network privately. The company's Network Interconnection (CNI) product, which already supported physical private network interconnects (PNIs), can now be ordered as virtual layer 2 connections in 23 metro areas across five continents through five launch partners. The new partner program lets customers order links at sub-rate speeds from a dashboard, without managing additional physical cabling or cross connects.

Traffic over these virtual links avoids the public Internet. It moves from the customer's router onto the interconnection platform's fabric and then to Cloudflare, which keeps the connection private while sharing some physical infrastructure. For enterprises with strict security postures or performance requirements that do not justify the usual minimum 1 Gbps of a physical PNI, this model adds flexibility.

How virtual interconnection works

Interconnection platforms go by several names—Cloud Exchange, Virtual Cross Connect Platform, and Interconnection Platform are all used for the same thing. Customers order a port and a virtual connection through a portal, and the platform establishes the link at layer 2. Because many organizations already connect to these fabrics to reach major cloud providers, adding a private link to Cloudflare is a matter of configuration rather than new hardware.

Launch partners and their footprints:

  • Console Connect by PCCW Global: 14 locations
  • Megaport: 14 locations
  • PacketFabric: 15 locations
  • Equinix ECX Fabric: 8 locations
  • Zayo Tranzact: 3 locations

The metro areas span North America, Europe, Asia, Oceania, and Africa. Connections can also be established at any of Cloudflare's physical facilities, and additional locations can be turned up on request.

Why connect over a fabric instead of the Internet

Private virtual links carry several operational advantages over public transit or physical PNIs:

  • Security: Traffic stays off the public Internet even though it shares the platform's infrastructure.
  • Efficiency: Customers can order sub-rate connections such as 100 Mbps instead of paying for idle 1 Gbps capacity. Most providers also allow short bursts above the committed rate.
  • Performance: Avoiding the public Internet avoids its congestion points.
  • Cost: Major cloud providers typically charge lower egress fees for traffic handed to an interconnection fabric than for traffic sent to the Internet. This extends the logic of the Bandwidth Alliance to more network paths.
  • Less overhead: A single physical connection into the platform replaces multiple cross connects; links are defined and managed in software.
  • Location independence: If the customer's infrastructure sits in the same metro but a different facility than Cloudflare, a fabric connection removes the need for another physical link.

Existing Cloudflare customers working with one of the launch partners can contact their account team to get connected. Interconnection platforms that want to join the program can apply through the partner program page, and Cloudflare says it will add partners based on customer demand.