Cross-Cloud Interconnect overview
Cross-Cloud Interconnect is a product that helps you establishhigh-bandwidth dedicated connectivity between Google Cloudand another cloud service provider.
When you buy Cross-Cloud Interconnect, Google provisions adedicated physical connection between the Google network andthat of another cloud service provider. You can use this connection to peeryour Google Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) network with your network that'shosted by asupported cloud service provider.
Google supports the connection up to the point where it reaches the network ofyour other cloud service provider. Google does not guarantee uptime from theother cloud service provider and cannot create a support ticket on your behalf.With your permissionCloud Customer Care cancommunicate directly with your other cloud provider's support team to expediteissue resolution. However, you must have a support ticket open with theother provider.
Cross-Cloud Interconnect helps you avoid some of the common painpoints associated with multicloud configuration, as described in the followingsection.
Benefits
This section describes the benefits of multicloud in general and ofCross-Cloud Interconnect in particular.
Integrated multicloud strategy
Cross-Cloud Interconnect supports your adoption of an integratedmulticloud strategy. Adopting a multicloud architecture lets you do thefollowing:
Avoid being locked in with a single vendor.
Store data in one cloud while hosting business logic in another.
Avoid downtime if one cloud has an outage.
Use a second cloud for disaster recovery.
Maximize business insights by analyzing data in multiple clouds.
Reduced complexity
Without Cross-Cloud Interconnect, the options for setting upconnectivity are limited, and all are relatively complex.
One option is to deploy your own router in a colocation facility and thenconnect it to the networks of your cloud service providers. In general, thisapproach can be expensive and time consuming.
Another option is to contract with a third party to establish connectivity.However, it can be a hassle to select a vendor, or potentially multiplevendors, and then negotiate one or more contracts. When you use thisapproach, you also have to invest time learning about the systems that arespecific to your vendors.
When you use Cross-Cloud Interconnect, you don't have to deployyour own hardware, and you eliminate the need to work with third parties.
Site-to-site data transfer
You can use Cross-Cloud Interconnect as part of asite-to-site data transfer strategy.Site-to-site data transferis a feature of Network Connectivity Center (NCC) that lets you use the Google network as a wide areanetwork (WAN).
With this feature, you connect your external networks toGoogle Cloud by usingsupported connectivity resources.You then associate each connectivity resource with a NCC spoke andenable the spokes for site-to-site data transfer. At that point, you canconduct data transfer between the sites.
You can use this feature to do the following:
Connect your cloud networks: Suppose you have a network hosted byMicrosoft Azure and another hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS). In thisscenario, you can establish one pair ofCross-Cloud Interconnect connections to reach the Azurenetwork and another to reach the AWS network. After configuringNCC spokes, you can use the Google network to transfer databetween your Azure and AWS networks.
Connect an on-premises network to other clouds: Suppose you have thesetup that's described in the preceding bullet point, but you also haveoffices in New York and Sydney. In this scenario, you can establishconnectivity to your offices by using resources such asDedicated Interconnect VLANattachments or Cloud VPN (HA VPN) tunnels. Aftercreating spokes, you can use the Google network totransfer data between either of your offices and your Azure and AWS networks.
Site-to-site data transfer is supported only in certainlocations.
Encryption
Cross-Cloud Interconnect supports MACsec for Cloud Interconnectencryption for additional security.You can use MACsec for Cloud Interconnect to help secure traffic in yourCross-Cloud Interconnect connections. For more information, seeMACsec for Cloud Interconnect overview.
Supported cloud service providers
Google supports the following cloud service providers for use withCross-Cloud Interconnect:
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Microsoft Azure
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI)
Alibaba Cloud
Cross-Cloud Interconnect and this documentation refer to suchcloud service providers as yourremote cloud service provider orremote cloud.
Comparison to Partner Cross-Cloud Interconnect for OCI
While Cross-Cloud Interconnect lets you turn up dedicatedconnectivity between Google Cloud and OCI,Partner Cross-Cloud Interconnect for OCIlets you connect any Google Cloud and OCI resourcesprivately inavailable paired locations.Use the following table to choose the option that works best for your needs:
| Feature | Cross-Cloud Interconnect | Partner Cross-Cloud Interconnect for OCI |
|---|---|---|
| Tenancy | Connections are fully owned by you and can't be shared across organizations. | Google Cloud and OCI own ports; connections can be used by multiple customers. |
| Supported speeds | 10 Gbps, 100 Gbps. | 1 Gbps, 2 Gbps, 5 Gbps, 10 Gbps, 20 Gbps, 50 Gbps. |
| Cost | You pay for ports and attachments in both clouds and data transfer out for traffic leaving Google Cloud. | You pay for Google Cloud partner attachments and OCI virtual circuits. There is no data transfer fee. |
| Performance | Optimal latency. | Optimal latency. |
| Support | Google supports the connection all the way to the OCI demarcation. | Google Cloud and OCI partner on supporting the solution end to end. |
Comparison to Partner Cross-Cloud Interconnect for AWS
While Cross-Cloud Interconnect lets you turn up dedicatedconnectivity between Google Cloud and AWS,Partner Cross-Cloud Interconnect for AWSlets you connect any Google Cloud and AWS resourcesprivately inavailable paired locations.Use the following table to choose the option that works best for your needs:
| Interconnect connection type | Cross-Cloud Interconnect | Partner Cross-Cloud Interconnect for AWS |
|---|---|---|
| Description | Provides dedicated connectivity between Google Cloud and providers like OCI, AWS, Azure, and Alibaba | Provides dedicated connectivity between Google Cloud and providers like AWS |
| Needs physical provisioning | Yes | No |
| Needs physical attachments and ports | Yes | No |
| Connection increments | 10 Gbps or 100 Gbps | Granular pre approved speeds starting from 1 Gbps to 100 Gbps |
| Provisioning time | 1-4 weeks | 1 day or less |
| Connection ordering | Must be initiated from Google Cloud | Bidirectional; can be initiated from Google Cloud or Amazon Web Services |
| Resiliency | Must be configured manually | Built into the product |
Google support for Cross-Cloud Interconnect
The following diagram shows the point of physical cabling that Google support isresponsible for. For any other issues, contact the other cloud service providerthat you are using.
Capacity
Cross-Cloud Interconnect connections are available in twosizes: 10 Gbps or 100 Gbps.
Cross-Cloud Interconnect MTU
Cross-Cloud Interconnect lets you configure jumbomaximum transmission units (MTUs) with any of the cloudproviders. For information about support for larger MTUs, refer to the remotecloud provider's documentation as they may not be the same as Google's.
Setup process
To start the setup process, you identify supported locations where you wantGoogle to place your connections. Then you purchase primary and redundantCross-Cloud Interconnect ports. You also buy primary andredundant ports from your remote cloud service provider.
Following your purchase from your remote cloud service provider, theyprovide you with documentation that authorizes you to connect to theirrouter. You send this documentation to Google. At that point, Google canprovision your connections. For each connection, Google physically connectsone of your Cross-Cloud Interconnect ports to one of yourremote cloud ports.
After Google provisions your connection, we notify you that theconnection is ready to use. To begin using the connection, you configure yourGoogle Cloud resources and your remote cloud resources.
For a more detailed overview, see one of the following:
Fixed pricing
Cross-Cloud Interconnect offers fixed port pricing for outbounddata transfers for VLAN attachments. You can choose fixed pricing for eachCross-Cloud Interconnect connection and choose which types ofconnections you want the fixed pricing to apply to. This lets you get a fixedmonthly invoice for outbound data transfers.
Fixed port pricing considers the following types of connections:
Local connection: The VLAN attachment is in the same a metro locationwhere the destination Google Cloudregion is located.
For example, if you obtain a VLAN attachment in the Los Angeles, Californiametro location and the destination Google Cloud region is
us-west2,then the VLAN attachment's location and destination Google Cloudregion are the same. This is considered a local connection.Remote connection: The VLAN attachment is in a different metrolocation where the destination Google Cloud region is located.
For example, if you create a VLAN attachment in the Los Angeles, Californiametro location and the destination Google Cloud region is
us-east4,then the VLAN attachment's location and destination Google Cloudregion are different. This is considered a remote connection.Similarly, if you obtain a VLAN attachment in the Portland, Oregon metrolocation, then there isn't a local Google Cloud region availablewithin that metro location. Because you can't connect to a localGoogle Cloud region, this is considered a remote connection.
The following Google Cloud regions only offer support for fixed pricingfor remote connections on Cross-Cloud Interconnect:
- us-west1
- us-east1
- europe-west4
- europe-north1
- asia-east1
To request a Cross-Cloud Interconnect connection with fixed portpricing, contact your account team.
Custom IP address ranges
When you create a VLAN attachment for Cross-Cloud Interconnect,you can configure custom IP address ranges for the Cloud Router andcustomer router ends of the attachment. For information about how it works,including limitations and best practices, see theCustom IP address ranges section inthe Cloud Interconnect overview.
When you configure custom IP address ranges for VLAN attachments that you usewith Cross-Cloud Interconnect and AWS, you must provide the IPv6subnet that was allocated by AWS during attachment provisioning. When youconfigure custom IP address ranges for VLAN attachments with other cloud serviceproviders, you can use your own IP addresses or use IP addresses that yourservice provider configures. To configure custom IP addressranges with Cross-Cloud Interconnect, see the following pages:
- Alibaba Cloud:configure custom IP address ranges
- Amazon Web Services (AWS):configure custom IP address ranges
- Microsoft Azure:configure custom IP address ranges
- Oracle Cloud Infrastructure:configure custom IP address ranges
Service-level agreement
Cross-Cloud Interconnect uses the Cloud Interconnectservice level agreement (SLA).Since Cross-Cloud Interconnect is a sharedresponsibility model between Google Cloud and another cloud serviceprovider, the Cross-Cloud Interconnect SLA coversGoogle Cloud's infrastructure up until the point it's transferred to theother cloud service provider.
To qualify for the SLA, your Cross-Cloud Interconnectconfiguration must use one of the approaches described in the followingsections.
Both of these approaches require redundancy. You incorporate redundancy by, ata minimum, locating connections in two edge availability domains. Anedge availability domain is a zone within a metropolitan area.Using multiple edge availability domains maximizes availability because twodomains in the same metropolitan area are typically not down for maintenance atthe same time.
Minimum requirement
The Cloud Interconnect SLA requires you to have, minimally, twoconnections: a primary connection and a redundant connection, each in adifferent edge availability domain of a metropolitan area. This approachgives you 99.9% availability.
High availability
For more critical applications, configure two pairs of connections. Each pairmust be located in a different metropolitan area. Within each metropolitan area,you must use two different edge availability domains. Thisapproach gives you 99.99% availability.
Limitations
Cross-Cloud Interconnect connections are supported only incertain locations. For details, see the following documents:
What's next
Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under theCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, and code samples are licensed under theApache 2.0 License. For details, see theGoogle Developers Site Policies. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
Last updated 2026-02-19 UTC.