Zayo Announces Critical Infrastructure Upgrades

Zayo, a global communications infrastructure provider, has announced its latest round of critical infrastructure upgrades. This includes significant expansions of its network connectivity offerings, including new 400G-enabled wavelength routes not available from any other provider, expanded on-demand network capabilities, and IP core upgrades—enabling the most forward-thinking and innovative companies to connect what’s next.

“Today’s businesses need to deliver connections and experiences faster than ever to remain competitive. And in our digital business age, their network can be a make-or-break,” said Bill Long, Chief Product & Strategy Officer at Zayo. “Zayo has built North America’s largest independent fiber network, and we continue to advance our offerings to ensure our customers have a network that’s 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. The routes provide diversity not available from any other provider. Connecting into Zayo’s expansive backbone and key unique routes across the country, 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 and extends 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 between the markets 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 and one of the fastest-growing in North America, with extended reach to Quebec City.
Zayo is currently 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. Zayo currently provides the largest 400G network in North America. With the completion of these routes, Zayo’s North American fiber network is now nearly 90% 400G-enabled and is expected to be one of the largest fully 400G-enabled by the end of 2024.

Enabling Easy-to-Turn-Up Wavelength Capacity

With the rapid growth in capacity needs thanks to 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 unveiled an industry-first Waves on Demand offering, providing a turn-up of wavelength services in 24 hours, a previously unheard-of 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 and Seattle to San Jose, completing important coast-to-coast connections:

Zayo’s Atlanta to Miami route links into its unique route connecting from Dallas to Atlanta
The Seattle to San Jose route 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, including 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 located in North America. The addition of new IP PoPs to Zayo’s IP network guarantees scalable and dependable capacity availability. Built on Zayo’s wholly-owned fiber backbone, Zayo’s IP network also ensures enhanced reliability and performance with reduced latency to support the high-speed connectivity required for 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.