Zayo supercharges connectivity with fully-enabled 400G European network

Zayo Group says that its future-ready network in Europe is fully 400G enabled, providing enhanced capacity and scalability for businesses throughout Europe and across the globe.

Zayo’s 400G network allows businesses, data centres, carriers and hyperscalers to access high bandwidth, low latency connectivity throughout Europe with the most direct routing for multi-cloud and multi-market connectivity. As part of Zayo’s global network, the 400G enhancements will also support global connectivity for Zayo customers outside of Europe, with Zayo’s North American network also scheduled to be fully 400G enabled by the end of 2024. 

The upgrades of Zayo’s network to 400G, coupled with its global reach, is a true differentiator in the market, acting as the backbone of the internet from the most northerly parts of the UK, through to mainland Europe, and across the globe. Zayo’s European network is built on five diverse subsea cables, three of which are owned and operated by Zayo, powering 2,500 on-net buildings, 125 core points of presence (PoPs) and 16 metro fibre markets. 

As next generation technologies demand more and more bandwidth, 400G connectivity is increasingly becoming the standard for businesses across the world, largely thanks to enhanced scalability, simplified application and reduced circuit monitoring. Omdia research, commissioned in partnership with Ciena, highlights the appetite for 400G. Findings showed that 74% of companies rely on high-capacity services like 400G connect with enterprise locations or cloud providers, while 58% rely on it for data centre to data centre communication.

Zayo’s network enhancement also provides a significant sustainability benefit for 400G-connected businesses, with independent research showcasing that Ciena’s WaveLogic 5 Extreme that underpins Zayo’s 400G network drives a threefold increase in fibre capacity while reducing power per bit by 80% and physical space needed by 85% compared to the original WaveLogic generation.

Zayo is already looking towards the future, at the growth of 800G networks, having broken the world record for the longest 800G optical wave in a commercial network at 1,044.51km.

Yannick Leboyer, Managing Director, Europe at Zayo Group, says: “Our customers are increasingly taking advantage of bandwidth-intensive applications to keep up with the competition - from AI and IoT to advanced analytics - which require significantly higher bandwidth and low latency connectivity. 

“Our ultimate goal is to ensure our global clients can remain on the cutting edge. That’s why we’re committed to the continued enhancement and modernization of our network to provide the fastest, most reliable connectivity.”

Will Rhodes, CMS Consultant at Ciena says: “Customers are now starting to buy 400G wave services across Europe, turning this from a niche to a real market. They are looking to achieve the highest capacity to support their business outcomes whilst delivering on their sustainability goals. 400G will support the ever-increasing data demand driven by new applications such AI and the aggregation of Machine-to-Machine connectivity.”