Microsoft operates two types of following data centers:
- The first type is the production data center, where Microsoft calculates all workloads of its customers and stores all the data.
- The second type is the edge or delivery site. Those sites connect all Microsoft Cloud services to the internet and Microsoft's customers. Edge sites come in two stages of expansion. The smallest one allows Microsoft public direct peering through the internet. With the second stage of expansion, Microsoft allows customers and providers to establish a private connection to the Microsoft backbone using the Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute service.
The following diagram shows a schematic of the Microsoft data center structure: ...
