What is a Cross-Connect?: rawcompute.in Glossary

A cross-connect is a dedicated physical cable that directly links two racks or two customers within the same data-centre facility. It provides a private, low-latency, high-bandwidth connection without traversing the public internet or the data centre’s shared switching infrastructure. Cross-connects are typically fibre-optic (single-mode or multi-mode) for high-speed links or copper (Cat6A) for lower-speed connections. They are used to connect your servers directly to ISP routers, cloud on-ramps, CDN nodes, internet exchanges, or other tenants’ infrastructure.

The data-centre operator physically patches the cross-connect through their Meet-Me Room (MMR). A secure area where different tenants’ and carriers’ infrastructure converge. Cross-connects are billed as a monthly recurring charge (typically INR 3,000-10,000/month in Indian data centres) and may also have a one-time installation fee. Each cross-connect provides a single point-to-point link; you need one per connection.

Why it matters when buying hardware

Cross-connects are essential for establishing direct, private connectivity in a colocation environment. If you need low-latency access to a cloud provider (AWS Direct Connect, Azure ExpressRoute, Google Cloud Interconnect), you will provision cross-connects from your cage or rack to the cloud provider’s router in the same facility. When planning your colocation deployment, verify that the data centre hosts the carriers and cloud providers you need, and budget for cross-connect fees alongside rack rental and power costs.