Zayo lights up new Chicago-to-Memphis 100G route

Zayo on Tuesday announced that it has built a 100G wavelength network on its Memphis to Chicago route, enabling it to offer wavelength and Ethernet services between these two markets.

Prior to this network upgrade, this route was only available to Zayo's dark fiber customers. Already carrying wavelength customers since mid-January, Zayo completed this network upgrade project early this year.

Chicago has become another major hub for Zayo. Last October, Zayo completed two new low-latency routes: the first from Chicago to Seattle and the second between Seattle and New York/Northern New Jersey.  

As it has continued to expand its fiber routes in the southeast, Zayo has been simultaneously increasing its on-net building footprint. In its fiscal Q2 earnings release, it said it connected 436 new buildings to its fiber network. In total, Zayo has 11,104 on-net buildings, including presence in the United States and Europe.

A key point of these network expansions is that they enhance the company's ability to offer Ethernet services.

The CLEC was recently cited as the fifth largest provider in terms of port shares sold on Vertical System Group's competitive Ethernet services Leaderboard. The company's presence on the Leaderboard was enhanced through its purchase of AboveNet in addition to USCarrier, which gave it an expanded network presence in four states: Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Tennessee. 

For more:
- see the release

Special report:  Wireline telecom earnings in the fourth quarter of 2012

M&A report: The top wireline mergers & acquisitions in 2012

Related articles:
Zayo's fiscal Q2 revenue rises to $243.5 million from acquisitions, on-net fiber buildouts
Zayo finishes its Chicago-to-Seattle low-latency route
Zayo completes purchase of USCarrier