Networking roadmap for Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 for enterprise includes collaboration and productivity cloud services, Microsoft Intune, and many identity and security services of Microsoft Azure. All of these cloud-based services rely on the security, performance, and reliability of connections from client devices over the Internet or dedicated circuits. To host these services and make them available to customers all over the world, Microsoft has designed a networking infrastructure that emphasizes performance and integration.

A crucial part of your Microsoft 365 onboarding is to ensure that your network and Internet connections are set up for optimized access. Configuring your on-premises network to access a globally distributed Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) cloud is different from a traditional network that is optimized for traffic to on-premises datacenters and a central Internet connection.

Use these articles to understand the key differences and to modify your edge devices, client computers, and on-premises network to get the best performance for your on-premises users.

Plan

In the planning phase of your networking implementation:

• Understand how Microsoft 365 networking works
• Learn about network connectivity principles
• Assess your current network connectivity
• Plan for your network devices
• Get your network set up for migration

Deploy

In the deployment phase of your networking implementation:

• Ensure your enterprise network is optimized for Microsoft 365 connectivity
• Add the DNS domains for your organization
• Optimize connectivity for remote workers using VPN split tunneling
• Configure CDN to improve network performance
• Optimize your connectivity to Microsoft 365 endpoints
• If needed, configure ExpressRoute

Manage

In the management phase of your networking implementation:

• Test and optimize using the Microsoft 365 network connectivity test tool
• Ensure that your network devices are using the latest Office 365 endpoints
• Monitor and tune your networking performance
• Monitor your Microsoft 365 connectivity

Network equipment vendors

If you are a network equipment vendor, join the Microsoft 365 Networking Partner Program. Enroll in the program to build Microsoft 365 network connectivity principles into your products and solutions.

How Contoso did networking for Microsoft 365

See how the Contoso Corporation, a fictional but representative multi-national business, optimized their network devices and Internet connections for Microsoft 365 cloud services.

Next step

Start your networking planning with the Microsoft 365 networking connectivity overview.