From the Metaverse to smart cities, the digital-first evolution shows no signs of slowing down. More enterprises are opting for emerging technologies, such as 5G, IoT and AI, to compete in an increasingly virtual world. As they embrace these new technologies, they require the support of a reliable, resilient network.
At Zayo, we continue to meet the needs of our customers with our digital infrastructure. This means making consistent advancements to our independent fiber network to provide an optimal experience for enterprises everywhere. Our latest updates, which mark our largest organic network expansion to date, demonstrate our commitment to making what’s next possible by continuously investing in our infrastructure.
But why is infrastructure investment important now?
Introducing “What’s Next”
Our purpose at Zayo is to connect what’s next, which means anticipating incoming technological developments in order to continuously deliver value to our customers. With this series, we look forward to highlighting the trends we’re most excited about and that our infrastructure is helping to fuel.
The Burgeoning Need for Bandwidth
Each day, new trends are surfaced that push the envelope into the future, and companies are adopting them en masse. For example:
- Click and collect — the pandemic-induced shopping practice of buying online, then picking up in-store or at a designated location — continues to be used by consumers. In fact, it’s estimated that click-and-collect buyers will spend $15.59 billion more in 2022 than they did in 2021. The growing popularity of click and collect with buyers will lead to more brands and retailers offering options to tap into that revenue.
- Driverless cars are slowly being integrated into various major businesses, such as pizza chain Domino’s, as they seek to innovate the future of the delivery model. Argo AI — a self-driving startup that allows ride-hail, delivery and logistics companies to incorporate driverless vehicles into their operations — has already partnered with Lyft and Walmart to run pilot programs in Miami, Florida and Austin, Texas.
To power this new era of autonomous vehicles and online shopping habits, businesses require more network bandwidth and additional servers in more locations to support the large amounts of data being transferred.
The Zayo Updates Ushering in Upcoming Technologies
Zayo’s updates seek to offer the capacity for customers to utilize higher bandwidth connectivity and bring next-generation technologies into the future through:
New Long-Haul Dark Fiber Routes
Route diversity is a vital component of a network to deliver scalable and reliable IP services. Zayo’s new underground dark fiber routes, ranging from Cleveland-Columbus to Las Vegas-Phoenix, ensure our customers can transfer data at high speeds while giving them the physical security needed to protect that data.
400G Network Expansion
As 400G continues to be the standard in cloud infrastructure amid growing traffic demands, we have worked to ensure Zayo’s 75,000-mile network is 400G enabled — with half already 400G enabled and the other half expected to be done by the end of the year.
We have also introduced expanded 400G routes in key locations, including:
- Dallas-Atlanta
- Chicago-New York
- Los Angeles-Phoenix-Dallas
Highly-Scalable Subsea Routes
Because Zayo’s network is international, investing in subsea routes was essential to connect North America and Europe without interruption. Our subsea routes give customers seamless access between the U.S. and Canada to our dense European fiber network spanning eight countries with over 17,000 route miles.