Partnership upgrades Zayo’s fiber route from Chicago to Seattle

Zayo Group has announced its partnership with Internet2 to add substantial new capacity on Zayo’s fiber route from Chicago to Seattle. The system will have greater than 4 terabits of overall capacity to support Internet2’s new 100G network. Zayo is a subrecipient of Internet2’s grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program that predominately funds the new network. The upgrade is expected to be completed during spring 2013.

“This project demonstrates Zayo’s commitment to building strong strategic alliances with the research and education community and our investment into our extensive fiber footprint,” says Zach Nebergall, vice president of Wavelength Product Group at Zayo. “Internet2 is helping to bring substantial amounts of additional capacity to the research and education community via its partnerships.”

This infrastructure will extend the capability to reach the nation’s leading research and education network’s 100G services to universities and research centers in Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Washington, and Wisconsin. The project will provide new 100G national backbone paths between Internet2’s core routers in Seattle and Chicago, reduce latency for time-sensitive applications and increase capacity for global innovation with partners throughout the west and Asia that connect through Seattle.

“Expanding the world’s most advanced 100G software-defined network to the Northern Tier brings unique research, education and community resources and capabilities hundreds of miles closer to scientists, educators, students, and community anchor institutions.” says Robert Vietzke, Vice President of network services at Internet2. “We are delighted to partner with Zayo and our member institutions throughout the Northern Tier on this enormous new set of capabilities.”

"The University of Montana is excited about the new possibilities to extend our statewide networking capabilities in to the 100G national research and education network as our research, education and service needs demand it,” said Loey Knapp, interim chief information officer at the University of Montana. “Bringing these sorts of capabilities to the Northern Tier not only enhances what we can deliver to our researchers, but also makes the unique resources of the Northern Tier states more available to the global community."

The new technology and services enable transformational solutions for education delivery and provide better-yielding solutions for university business functions to an area of the country that hosts many unique research projects and other national resources.

Working with its regional network partners, the newly upgraded 100G-enabled Internet2 Network will allow advanced networking features for more than 200,000 of the country's community anchor institutions, including libraries, hospitals, K-12 schools, community colleges, and public safety organizations. The network infrastructure also will support advanced applications, such as HD and multi-cast video distance learning and telemedicine.