The last thing you need to worry about during a natural disaster such as a hurricane is the state of your communications infrastructure. For this reason, Zayo constructs its fiber network and builds its operational processes pre-hardened. It’s tempting to tell stories of corporate heroes who save the day during disasters, but when our network, people, and processes are prepared, disasters can blow through without serious impact, and without the need for heroics.
Last month, we shared how Zayo prepares for events like Hurricane Ian.
These preparations have once again allowed Zayo’s customers to address the most important threat of the hurricane – personal safety – knowing their network infrastructure is sound. How did we do? The hurricane’s path included a number of sites across Zayo’s Florida and Carolina networks including:
- 2 major POPs – Minimal downtime
A fully fueled backup generator in the Zayo-owned POP ensured consistent service for our customers. The second POP is a third party site that saw minimal downtime due to a breaker issue when power transferred from generator to commercial power. - Enterprise sites – Minimal downtime
The vast majority of customer sites within the Hurricane’s path were unimpacted. For the few that were, the sites that were equipped with backup power experienced no service downtime. As soon as power was fixed and Zayo could safely access impacted customer sites (those without a stand-by backup), Zayo restored service. Within 48 hours all service had been restored. - Multiple cell sites – Minor downtime
Cell sites are exposed to weather-related damage. Zayo fiber-supported wireless networks saw minimal issues in the areas outside the main impact zone. Within the impact zone, the vast majority of damaged cell towers were restored within days of the storm as the flood waters receded and it was safe to access the sites.
Zayo builds its fiber for consistent, stellar network performance. The recovery from Hurricane Ian was smooth because Zayo builds resiliency into its underlying network and processes. In hurricane-prone Florida over 90% of the fiber infrastructure is underground, insulating the backbone from the worst of the storm and leading to minimal impact to business networks.
Zayo purposely placed core network locations near critical buildings such as hospitals and airports which are on power grids that have priority when being restored.
As we know, chance favors the prepared. Customers can trust Zayo’s network in future disasters knowing we’ve built it with the thoughtful planning that ensures its resiliency – no matter the destructive forces that hit it.