Azure ExpressRoute
When organizations need to extend an Azure VNet to on-premises sites, it makes sense to start with a VPN connection. However, as the connection takes on more mission-critical traffic, the organization might want a more stable and reliable connection. Similar to AWS Direct Connect, Azure offers ExpressRoute as a private connection facilitated by a connectivity provider. As we can see from the diagram, our network is connected to Azure's partner edge network before it is transitioned to Azure's edge network: