Similar to an AWS VPN connection, Direct Connect is another method of extending your own infrastructure and joining it to your AWS architecture as if it were a single network. However, with Direct Connect, you do not use a public network to initiate the connection. Instead, your connection runs across a private network via an AWS Direct Connect location.
These AWS Direct Connect locations are data centers where your own network and the network of AWS physically connect to each other via cross-connects using a standard fiber-optic cable between your router and an AWS Direct Connect router. These data centers are managed by AWS Direct Connect partners.
Let's look at a diagram to help explain how this connection is established at a high level:
As you can see, there are three distinct locations involved to establish a link using AWS...