Zayo, a leading global communications infrastructure provider, has announced a new round of critical infrastructure upgrades. These include significant expansions in network connectivity, such as new 400G-enabled wavelength routes, expanded on-demand network capabilities, and IP core upgrades, all designed to support the most forward-thinking and innovative companies.
“Today’s businesses need to deliver connections and experiences faster than ever to remain competitive,” said Bill Long, Chief Product & Strategy Officer at Zayo. “In our digital business age, their network can be a make-or-break factor. Zayo has built North America’s largest independent fiber network, and we continue to advance our offerings to ensure our customers have a network ready for tomorrow’s challenges. Our ongoing infrastructure upgrades continue to make our network a competitive differentiator, providing fast, reliable connectivity where it’s needed most, from tier-1 cities to rural markets and data centers.”
What’s New:
Diversifying 400G Connections
Since April 2024, Zayo has completed five unique and carrier-diverse 400G wavelength routes, providing diversity not available from any other provider. These expansions enable North to South and Coast to Coast connectivity with resiliency and 400G capacity. The new routes include:
- Los Angeles to San Jose: Ensures diverse and unique routing between the Bay Area and Los Angeles with high capacity, low latency, data center-to-data center connectivity, extending into other key locations like Salt Lake City, Portland, Dallas, and Phoenix.
- Chicago to St. Louis: Completes a critical path between these key markets, adding another diverse entrance into Chicago, and completes a core North-to-South path across the U.S., connecting to Zayo’s Memphis to New Orleans route.
- Reno to Barstow: Completes a critical low-latency path for carriers, government agencies, middle-mile infrastructure for rural connectivity, and enterprises with high bandwidth needs.
- Columbus to Pittsburgh: Provides faster and more direct access and ‘triversity’ between the markets.
- Quebec City to Montreal: Connects key data centers in Montreal, the second-largest data center hub in Canada, with extended reach to Quebec City. Zayo is the only major U.S. fiber provider offering 400G connectivity into Quebec City through Montreal with multiple routing options across the border into the U.S.
Zayo has also expanded 400G capacity on four routes connecting key cities including Richmond, Cleveland, and Chicago. With these completions, Zayo’s North American fiber network is now nearly 90% 400G-enabled and is expected to be one of the largest fully 400G-enabled networks by the end of 2024.
Enabling Easy-to-Turn-Up Wavelength Capacity
With the rapid growth in capacity needs driven by high-bandwidth applications like AI, Zayo continues to expand on-demand and easy-to-turn-up capacity in key markets across North America. In 2023, Zayo introduced an industry-first Waves on Demand offering, providing wavelength services within 24 hours, an unprecedented concept in the telecommunications industry. Today, Zayo offers Waves on Demand services on 10 of its most high-demand routes, with plans for continued expansion. Its latest routes include:
- Atlanta to Miami: Links into Zayo’s unique route connecting from Dallas to Atlanta.
- Seattle to San Jose: Completes Waves On Demand capability from Seattle to Los Angeles.
Strengthening Strategic Connections with IP Core Upgrades
Zayo added 11 new North American IP points-of-presence (PoPs) in key data centers, including in Arizona, California, Florida, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, and Ontario. Additionally, Zayo upgraded four existing 400G IP PoP locations in strategic markets like San Jose, Seattle, Phoenix, and New York, providing 400G capabilities to some of the richest peering ecosystems in North America. With these additions, Zayo now has 375 global IP PoPs, 250 of which are in North America. The new IP PoPs guarantee scalable and dependable capacity availability and enhanced reliability and performance with reduced latency to support advanced applications like AI.
These upgrades underscore Zayo’s dedication to network innovation and service excellence. In 2024 alone, Zayo has expanded its network with nearly 500,000 additional fiber miles and 2,000 new on-net buildings. The company has also significantly enhanced its service delivery, surpassing 300Tb in pre-provisioned capacity. With these continued upgrades, Zayo is making it easier and faster for businesses to connect whenever and wherever they need it most.
