How to leverage AWS Direct Connect SiteLink as your backbone using partner offering for elastic turn-key service

11:11 Systems is a managed infrastructure solutions provider that helps customers modernize, protect, and manage mission-critical applications and data through its resilient cloud platform. The company offers a comprehensive suite of services, including end-to-end on-premises connectivity solutions built on the AWS network. In this post, we explore the challenges customers face when deploying global backbone networks and how 11:11 Systems, in partnership with AWS, addresses these challenges.

Today, customers can leverage the AWS backbone network to deploy their own global backbone. With AWS Direct Connect SiteLink, customers can connect their on-premises sites from one Direct Connect location to another, bypassing AWS Regions. This feature enables customers to create reliable, cost-effective, and pay-as-you-go connections between their offices and data centers, sending data over the fastest path between AWS Direct Connect locations. To learn more about how AWS Direct Connect SiteLink works, check out the AWS blogs: Introducing AWS Direct Connect SiteLink and Advanced Routing Scenarios with AWS Direct Connect SiteLink.

Through 11:11's partnership with AWS, customers now have access to an end-to-end managed solution. 11:11 addresses key challenges, such as procuring and expediting last-mile connections, especially from globally distributed locations, which can delay time-sensitive business opportunities. Additionally, 11:11 offers seamless integration with SD-WAN solutions, which, when combined with AWS’s ever-expanding footprint of Direct Connect locations, provides customers with faster, more reliable, and flexible connectivity options.

Moreover, customers with use cases such as Media & Entertainment (M&E) or AI training/inference often require ephemeral capacity to upload large volumes of data to the cloud. 11:11 Systems offers flexible bandwidth and short-term provisioning to support hybrid connectivity needs.

There are other capabilities 11:11 Systems offers through its partnership with AWS, such as end-to-end SLAs, Layer 2 connectivity, and flat-rate pricing, which are discussed in this blog. Prerequisites We assume you’re familiar with networking constructs on AWS, such as Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC), AWS Transit Gateway, and AWS Direct Connect. These services form the backbone of users’ global network architecture, allowing private, low-latency connections between multiple Direct Connect locations without the need for traffic to traverse AWS Regions. Integrating these services allows users to achieve enhanced performance and flexibility in managing the hybrid cloud environment.

AWS Direct Connect SiteLink

Direct Connect links your on-premises network to AWS, bypassing the internet to deliver more consistent, latency-optimized performance. SiteLink is a feature of Direct Connect that allows you to create connections between your on-premises networks through the AWS global network backbone. You can use SiteLink to send data from one Direct Connect location to another on the shortest path, bypassing AWS Regions. SiteLink allows you to create global, reliable, and pay-as-you-go connections between the offices and data centers in your global network by sending data over the fastest path between Direct Connect locations. If you’re using Direct Connect now, either through a direct or hosted connection, then you have everything you need to use SiteLink. No new connections are needed. When using SiteLink, you first connect your on-premises networks to AWS at any of the over 100 Direct Connect locations worldwide. Then, you create Virtual Interfaces (VIFs) on those connections and enable SiteLink. When all VIFs are attached to the same Direct Connect Gateway (DXGW), which is a global and highly available AWS resource, you can start sending data between them. Your data follows the shortest path between Direct Connect locations to its destination, using the fast, secure, and reliable AWS global network. Check the documentation for all AWS Direct Connect locations where SiteLink is available today.

11:11 Systems Global Footprint

11:11 Systems is a managed infrastructure solutions provider that empowers customers to modernize, protect, and manage mission-critical applications and data, leveraging 11:11’s resilient cloud platform. 11:11 Systems maintains a global infrastructure network with data centers and points of presence across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific regions. The company operates multiple enterprise-grade data centers and cloud nodes strategically positioned to provide comprehensive coverage and redundancy for their cloud, connectivity, and security services. This distributed network architecture enables them to deliver reliable managed infrastructure solutions and disaster recovery services to businesses worldwide while ensuring low latency and high availability.

Global Connectivity

Common Customer Challenges and How 11:11 Systems Can Help

Customers with a global footprint who need to connect on-premises locations across different regions can do so by establishing connections between two AWS Direct Connect locations and leveraging the AWS backbone. However, they remain responsible for the last mile, requiring them to engage a partner to establish network connectivity between AWS Direct Connect locations and their data center, office, or colocation environment.

When the two sites are in different regions or countries, this often means working with multiple partners to establish connectivity at each site. Managing multiple providers presents several challenges for businesses, including troubleshooting issues, obtaining SLAs, commissioning or decommissioning connections, and adjusting bandwidth as needs change.

11:11 Systems offers an end-to-end managed solution, available through the AWS Marketplace, that eliminates these complexities. With 11:11, businesses work with a single provider for their entire network solution, ensuring a seamless experience with a single end-to-end SLA. Additionally, customers benefit from the combined strength of 11:11 and AWS’s extensive network, gaining flexibility in contract lengths and scalable bandwidth options to meet evolving business demands.

A common request from customers has been a cost comparison between this solution and traditional backbone networks, such as legacy MPLS networks that offer fixed-price contracts. AWS follows a pay-as-you-go model, which benefits customers using the AWS backbone as a backup to their traditional MPLS network, those with low traffic volumes, or those with predictable traffic.

However, some customers prefer the predictability of fixed costs when deploying their backbone. With the solution provided by 11:11 Systems in partnership with AWS, customers can achieve a fixed-cost, flat-rate pricing model for their backbone, combining the flexibility of AWS with cost certainty.

The use cases/architectures (how it works)

1. Comprehensive End-to-End Solution with Elastic Turn-Key Service 11:11 Systems offers a managed end to end solution by providing a last mile connectivity services to help customers establish connections between their remote locations and AWS Direct Connect points of presence(POP) in colocation facilities. Rather than independently managing the complex setup, customers can leverage 11:11 Systems' expertise to not only get on-demand hosted connections, but also handle the last mile connectivity implementation. This approach significantly reduces deployment time, simplifies the connection process, and accelerates time-to-market for customers looking to utilize AWS Direct Connect services, ultimately providing a more efficient and streamlined solution for establishing dedicated cloud connectivity.

2. Multi-site remote connectivity using a managed SD-WAN solution A distributed environment whether that may be a remote or branch offices, physical store locations, or implementing a hub and spoke model with headquarters, SD-WAN plays a key role in facilitating the integrated connectivity. When customer wants to facilitate such connectivity, SD-WAN provides a breakout from an organization’s various sites, directly to the cloud which improves application performance while minimizing latency. 11:11 Systems offers a seamless integration of virtual SD-WAN appliance deployed in geographically distributed locations where they have a point of presence that allows to connect with different customer locations using AWS Direct Connect Sitelink. By providing application path selection SD-WAN can lessen circuit and telecom costs by utilizing less expensive broadband links for non-essential traffic.

3. Short-Term commitment for large voluminous data transfer The nature of some of the competitive workloads demands consistent, predictive performance and high throughput data transfer requirements for various use cases such as Foundation model training for 3D models, Artificial Intelligenct(AI) workloads, RAG model training, Large scale crawling and indexing of data lakes, Video streams processing with GenAI foundation model etc. 11:11 Systems provides a flexible, on-demand hosted connection service where customers only pay for their actual usage during data transfer operations, eliminating the need for long-term commitments. This pay-as-you-go model allows customers to utilize high-bandwidth connections temporarily and terminate the service once their data transfer requirements are met, offering both cost efficiency and operational flexibility. 11:11 Systems offers a flexibility ranging from 10 Gb to 100 Gb to upscale or downscale the bandwidth as the workload demand changes. This solution may also be useful for workloads that demands compliance requirements while using services like AWS Snowball.

4. AWS Network as Backbone-as-a-service using Direct Connect Sitelink 11:11 Systems uses AWS Network as a backbone of their offering connected using AWS Direct Connect Sitelink to connect with their edge locations where Direct Connect has it’s Point Of Presence(POP). The Direct Connect Sitelink uses a shortest path first(SPF) algorithm to route the packet when riding through the AWS backbone network that allows an effective path optimization and minimize an end to end latency. Customer has a flexibility to opt-in for a flat rate pricing as per the bandwidth option they choose.

5. Layer 2 Connectivity This type of offering is built using Layer 2 VXLAN as an overlay that runs on top of service provider’s Layer 3 VPN as an underlay network pipe(Layer 2 over Layer 3). Customer gets an option to provision a Layer 1 connectivity and build their own Layer 2 trunk interface with desired VLAN of their choice to pass on over the circuit.

6. Livestreaming and Broadcasting events using on-demand hosted connectivity options AWS Direct Connect on-demand connectivity through services like 11:11 Systems provides an ideal solution for livestreaming and broadcasting events by offering high-bandwidth, low-latency connections that can be activated specifically for the duration of the event. This temporary, high-performance connection ensures reliable, high-quality streaming with minimal packet loss and jitter, perfect for live broadcasts, sporting events, virtual conferences, or entertainment shows. The ability to scale bandwidth as needed and pay only for the actual usage time makes it a cost-effective option for broadcasters who require premium connectivity only during specific events rather than maintaining expensive permanent connections.

Benefits-

1. End to End managed solution: A comprehensive turnkey solution encompassing physical/logical connectivity setup, network equipment configuration, last-mile connectivity management, AWS Direct Connect implementation, and continuous 24/7 monitoring and support services. This integrated approach enables customers to maintain focus on core business operations while ensuring optimal, secure, and reliable infrastructure performance.
2. Elastic bandwidth flexibility for workload demands: Enables dynamic scaling of Direct Connect bandwidth capacity based on real-time needs. Users can instantly adjust bandwidth for peak workloads (data transfers, AI/ML training, livestreaming, batch processing) and reduce during low-demand periods. The consumption-based pricing model optimizes costs while maintaining performance, ideal for organizations with variable workloads, seasonal demands, or project-specific requirements, eliminating fixed bandwidth commitments.
3. Utilizing AWS Backbone Network provides optimized routing- AWS Backbone Network with Direct Connect optimizes routing through SPF (Shortest Path First) algorithm when SiteLink is enabled. This infrastructure ensures efficient path selection via AWS's private network, minimizing network hops and congestion points while maintaining consistent cross-regional performance. The backbone connectivity delivers enhanced reliability and consistent performance for latency-sensitive applications, large data transfers, and critical workloads, with secured data transmission.
4. Flat rate pricing: A fixed-price model provides predictable costs independent of data transfer volumes or bandwidth consumption. The comprehensive rate includes service setup, management, and support components, enabling precise IT budget forecasting. This model optimally serves organizations with stable connectivity requirements, ensuring consistent AWS service access while maintaining performance and reliability standards.
5. One-click solution via AWS Marketplace: A streamlined deployment solution available through AWS Marketplace that enables rapid procurement and provisioning of Direct Connect services. The automated configuration process eliminates complex setup requirements and reduces deployment time. Customers can instantly initiate Direct Connect setup with automated AWS environment integration, while benefiting from consolidated billing through their AWS account.
6. Short term commitments: AWS Direct Connect offers flexible short-term service agreements, enabling high-bandwidth, dedicated connectivity without long-term contractual obligations. This model supports temporary workloads, specific projects, seasonal demands, and proof-of-concept implementations. Ideal for time-bound scenarios including data migrations, event broadcasting, and performance testing, delivering operational agility and cost optimization.
7. Hassle-free last mile connectivity: Streamlines the critical final network connection between customer premises and the nearest point of presence (PoP), eliminating multi-vendor coordination and local infrastructure complexities. This integrated solution optimizes deployment efficiency, accelerates service activation timelines, and delivers high-performance connectivity through a single-provider managed implementation process.

Conclusion-

AWS Direct Connect, when coupled with 11:11 Systems' comprehensive service offering, provides organizations with a powerful and flexible connectivity solution that maximizes the benefits of direct cloud access. Through 11:11 Systems' streamlined implementation, customers can quickly establish secure, high-performance connections to AWS services while enjoying benefits such as elastic bandwidth scaling, flat-rate pricing, and short-term commitment options. The combination leverages AWS's robust backbone network for optimized routing while eliminating the complexities of last-mile connectivity management. The one-click deployment through AWS Marketplace, coupled with 11:11's end-to-end managed services, significantly reduces deployment time and operational overhead. This partnership particularly benefits organizations requiring consistent performance for data-intensive workloads, such as AI/ML applications, live streaming events, or large-scale data transfers, while offering the flexibility to adjust resources based on actual needs without long-term commitments. The result is a cost-effective, highly reliable, and scalable connectivity solution that enables businesses to fully leverage AWS services while maintaining optimal performance and security.