Express Connect provides a secure and convenient method to connect your data center to Alibaba Cloud. You can use an Express Connect circuit provided by an Internet service provider (ISP) to create a connection between your data center and an Alibaba Cloud access point. Connections over Express Connect circuits are not exposed to the Internet. Compared with Internet connections, connections over Express Connect circuits are safer, faster, more reliable, and have lower network latency.

You can create a point-to-point Ethernet connection or MPLS VPN connection. By default, connections over Express Connect circuits support the following ports, which have a transmission rate that ranges from 1 Mbit/s to 100 Gbit/s and support transmission distance of up to 10 km: 1000BASE-LX, 10GBASE-LR, 100BASE-T, RJ45, and LC ports.
Note If the port model that you use is obsolete, it may not support the advanced features of Express Connect. If you use a copper Ethernet port, contact your ISP to replace the copper Ethernet port with an optical port.

Access methods

Connections over Express Connect circuits include the following types:
  • Dedicated connections over Express Connect circuits

    To connect your data center to Alibaba Cloud, you can use a dedicated Express Connect circuit from an ISP. You can apply for a dedicated Express Connect circuit in the Express Connect console. For more information, see Create a dedicated connection over an Express Connect circuit.

  • Shared connections over Express Connect circuits

    The access points of network service provider (NSP) partners are already connected to the access points of Alibaba Cloud. You can contact an NSP partner to use a shared connection over an Express Connect circuit. In this case, the connection is shared by multiple tenants. For more information, see Establish a shared physical connection.