Zayo —
North America's Largest Independent Fiber Network
Zayo is the largest independent fiber network operator in North America — delivering Dark Fiber, 400G Wavelengths, Dedicated Internet Access, Ethernet, MPLS, CloudLink private cloud connectivity, vendor-agnostic Enhanced SD-WAN, SASE/SSE, and Colocation across 80+ Quick-Connect data centers. Tier-1 IP backbone, 20+ years of network management expertise, and zInsights AIOps monitoring across your entire WAN — including third-party circuits. Fibi sources and negotiates Zayo on your behalf, at no cost.
Portfolio
Zayo Service Portfolio
Dark Fiber, Wavelengths, DIA, Ethernet, MPLS, CloudLink, vendor-agnostic SD-WAN, SASE, Managed Edge Networking, Colocation, and AI-driven monitoring — from edge to core to cloud on North America's largest independent fiber network.
Dark Fiber
Zayo Dark Fiber provides unlit optical fiber capacity on Zayo's owned long-haul and metro route network — leased directly to enterprises, carriers, and cloud providers who operate their own optical equipment on Zayo's physical infrastructure. Dark fiber gives large enterprises and hyperscalers complete control over wavelength multiplexing, protocol, and capacity without committing to a lit managed service. Zayo's dark fiber network spans the largest independent fiber footprint in North America — providing route diversity on paths that are physically independent of the incumbent carrier networks (AT&T, Lumen) that dominate most enterprise fiber conversations.
Wavelengths (Up to 400G)
Zayo Wavelength Services deliver dedicated optical transport at 1G, 10G, 100G, and 400G per wavelength — providing the highest-throughput, lowest-latency WAN connectivity available for data center interconnect, disaster recovery replication, financial market data distribution, and GenAI/HPC infrastructure. Each wavelength is a dedicated optical channel on Zayo's fiber backbone — no shared contention, no encryption overhead, predictable sub-millisecond latency. 400G capacity per wavelength with DWDM multiplexing enables total per-fiber capacity scaling well beyond individual wavelength limits for the highest-demand applications.
Colocation — 80+ Quick-Connect Data Centers
Zayo's 80+ Quick-Connect data center locations across North America provide carrier-neutral colocation with on-net Zayo fiber — enabling enterprises to colocate infrastructure with direct cross-connect access to Zayo's WAN, cloud connectivity, and security services. Quick-Connect's key differentiator: 10G connectivity can be activated in as few as 10 business days at pre-staged Quick-Connect locations, compared to the 60-120 day provisioning timelines of standard dedicated fiber builds. This speed of deployment enables urgent data center migrations, disaster recovery activations, and new facility openings without the lead time risk of traditional carrier fiber provisioning.
Dedicated Internet Access (IP Up to 400G)
Zayo DIA delivers committed, symmetric, uncontended bandwidth from 10 Mbps to 400G — on Zayo's Tier-1 IP backbone (Top 10 globally by CAIDA routing tables). SLA-backed uptime, latency, and packet loss guarantees with 24/7 NOC support. Available as standalone DIA or integrated into a managed SD-WAN, SASE, or Managed Edge Networking deployment. Zayo Shielded Internet Access adds in-line DDoS mitigation and threat intelligence to the DIA product for enterprises requiring network-layer security alongside connectivity.
Ethernet (E-Line / EPL · EVPL · E-LAN — Up to 40G)
Zayo Ethernet services provide Layer 2 point-to-point and multipoint connectivity — Ethernet Private Line (EPL), Ethernet Virtual Private Line (EVPL), and Ethernet LAN (E-LAN) — scaling to 40G on Zayo's fiber backbone. Used for site-to-site WAN, data center interconnect, campus connectivity, and building-to-building links where Layer 2 transparency, deterministic latency, and SLA-backed performance are required. Available across Zayo's metro and long-haul fiber network — including routes where Zayo's independent infrastructure provides physical path diversity from incumbent carrier networks.
IP VPN & MPLS
Zayo IP VPN provides carrier-grade MPLS Layer 3 VPN connectivity — any-to-any routing across Zayo's backbone with Class of Service (CoS) traffic prioritization for latency-sensitive applications (VoIP, video, EHR, financial transactions). Available as fully managed or customer-managed configurations. For enterprises migrating from MPLS to SD-WAN, Zayo can run MPLS and SD-WAN in parallel during transition — maintaining existing MPLS SLAs while SD-WAN is deployed and validated, reducing migration risk compared to hard-cutover approaches.
CloudLink (Private Direct Cloud Connectivity — AWS · Azure · Google)
Zayo CloudLink provides private, dedicated connectivity from enterprise locations to AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud — delivered over Zayo's Wavelength, Ethernet, or IP-VPN infrastructure, bypassing the public internet entirely. Eliminates public internet latency variability, removes internet-path security exposure for cloud-bound workloads, and delivers committed bandwidth SLAs rather than best-effort throughput. Available at Zayo Quick-Connect data centers and on-net colocation locations with direct cloud exchange interconnects — enabling enterprises to source private cloud connectivity from the same provider managing their WAN.
Enhanced SD-WAN (Vendor-Agnostic — Versa · VMware · Prisma · Fortinet)
Zayo Enhanced SD-WAN is a fully managed SD-WAN service built on a vendor-agnostic platform — supporting customer's choice of Versa Networks, VMware VeloCloud, Palo Alto Prisma SD-WAN, or Fortinet FortiSD-WAN as the underlying technology. Zayo handles CPE procurement, configuration, monitoring, and ongoing management regardless of platform. Application-aware traffic steering, WAN optimization, automated failover, and zero-touch provisioning across fiber, broadband, and LTE underlay transports. Co-management option allows internal IT teams to retain policy control while Zayo operates the NOC and incident response.
SASE / SSE (ZTNA · FWaaS · CASB · SWG)
Zayo SASE and SSE converge SD-WAN with cloud-native security — Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), Firewall-as-a-Service (FWaaS), Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB), and Secure Web Gateway (SWG) — delivered from Zayo's network edge. Vendor-agnostic security platform supports Netskope and Cloudbrink alongside core SD-WAN platforms. SASE replaces the hub-and-spoke security model with distributed cloud-delivered enforcement — applying consistent policy to all users and applications regardless of location. Appropriate for enterprises adopting cloud-first architectures where traditional perimeter security provides inadequate coverage for distributed workforces and SaaS-heavy environments.
Managed Edge Networking (LAN + SD-WAN + Security)
Zayo Managed Edge Networking provides a complete edge-to-core-to-cloud managed solution — combining LAN management (Managed Switch, Managed WiFi), SD-WAN, and security (Managed Firewall, SASE) under a single Zayo management framework. Vendor-agnostic across the full stack: Aruba, Cisco Meraki, Juniper, and Ruckus for LAN/WiFi; Versa, VMware, Fortinet, Palo Alto for SD-WAN; Fortinet and Netskope for security. Full or co-management models allow enterprises to choose how much operational responsibility Zayo carries versus what the internal IT team retains. Monitored and managed through zInsights — Zayo's AI-driven NOC portal with AIOps anomaly detection.
Managed WiFi, Managed LTE/5G Modem & Managed Switch
Zayo Managed WiFi provides cloud-controlled enterprise wireless — access point deployment, configuration, monitoring, and support under Zayo management. Vendor-agnostic: Aruba, Cisco Meraki, Ruckus, and Juniper access points supported. Managed LTE/5G Modem provides cellular WAN as a managed primary or backup path — using Cradlepoint LTE/5G hardware managed by Zayo, providing out-of-band management and failover capability at sites where wired backup is unavailable or insufficient. Managed Switch provides fully managed LAN switching at each site — eliminating the need for internal IT staff to operate distributed switch infrastructure.
Shielded Internet Access & Shielded Virtual Network
Shielded Internet Access adds in-line DDoS mitigation, threat intelligence, and traffic scrubbing to Zayo's standard DIA product — protecting enterprise internet connections against volumetric and application-layer attacks at the network layer before traffic reaches customer infrastructure. Shielded Virtual Network extends the same threat protection to private MPLS/IP-VPN traffic — applying security controls to WAN traffic that would otherwise be assumed trusted within a private network. Both products are appropriate for enterprises requiring network-layer security alongside their WAN connectivity without deploying separate on-premise scrubbing appliances.
zInsights — AI-Driven Network Monitoring & AIOps
zInsights is Zayo's AI-driven network monitoring and management portal — providing real-time visibility into circuit performance, utilization, latency, packet loss, and capacity trends across all Zayo services. The AIOps layer applies machine learning to network telemetry to detect anomalies proactively, predict capacity constraints before they cause degradation, and surface actionable recommendations. Critically, zInsights can monitor third-party circuits and network elements — not just Zayo-managed infrastructure — giving network operations teams a single-pane-of-glass view across the entire WAN, including competitive local loop providers, broadband, and LTE backup paths.
Ideal For
High-Capacity Enterprise, Data Centers, and Cloud-First Organizations
High-Capacity & GenAI Infrastructure
Hyperscalers, GPU-as-a-service operators, and AI infrastructure teams use Zayo 400G Wavelengths and Dark Fiber for GPU cluster interconnect, model training pipelines, and inference endpoint connectivity where IP-layer services cannot cost-effectively deliver the required throughput.
Data Center & Colocation Operators
Data center operators use Zayo's 80+ Quick-Connect locations for fast DCI provisioning, Dark Fiber for custom optical builds, and route-diverse Wavelengths for redundancy — often as a physically independent complement to incumbent carrier networks already in the facility.
Cloud-First & Digital Transformation
Enterprises standardizing on AWS, Azure, or GCP use CloudLink for private, SLA-backed cloud connectivity — replacing internet-based cloud access with dedicated connections that deliver latency predictability, security isolation, and committed throughput guarantees.
Multi-Location Enterprise SD-WAN
Mid-market and enterprise organizations use Zayo Enhanced SD-WAN and Managed Edge Networking to consolidate branch WAN, LAN, WiFi, and security under a single managed vendor — with the flexibility to keep their existing SD-WAN platform rather than switching ecosystems.
Why Zayo
Key Strengths
What sets Zayo apart from other enterprise fiber and managed WAN providers — and where its infrastructure independence, vendor-agnosticism, and speed advantages matter most.
Zayo operates the largest independent fiber network in North America — meaning the largest fiber footprint not owned by a telecom conglomerate (AT&T, Verizon, Lumen) with competing consumer, wireless, and TV divisions. Independence means Zayo's capital is directed entirely toward infrastructure: metro fiber, long-haul routes, data center connectivity, and network capacity. Its Tier-1 IP backbone ranks in the Top 10 globally by CAIDA routing tables — ensuring direct peering relationships with major internet exchanges and content networks rather than transit-dependent routing.
Zayo's managed services are vendor-agnostic across SD-WAN (Versa, VMware, Fortinet, Palo Alto Prisma), security (Netskope, Cloudbrink, Fortinet), LAN/WiFi (Aruba, Cisco Meraki, Juniper, Ruckus), and cellular (Cradlepoint). This means enterprises keep their existing technology preferences and security vendor relationships rather than accepting a bundled platform locked to a single manufacturer. Most carrier-managed SD-WAN offerings are tied to one or two platform vendors; Zayo's platform-agnostic model is a structural differentiator for enterprises with existing investments in specific technology ecosystems.
Zayo Quick-Connect addresses the single biggest friction in enterprise fiber procurement: lead time. At 80+ pre-staged data center locations across North America, Zayo can activate 10G connectivity in as few as 10 business days — compared to 60-120 day standard dedicated fiber builds. For enterprises with urgent requirements (data center migrations, DR activations, new facility openings), Quick-Connect provides production-grade fiber connectivity on a timeline that makes dedicated fiber practical rather than a planning-horizon item.
zInsights differentiates from standard carrier portals by extending monitoring scope beyond Zayo's own managed circuits to include third-party providers, on-premise equipment, and competitive local loop connections. This cross-provider visibility eliminates the multi-portal context-switching that network operations teams face when diagnosing end-to-end performance issues spanning multiple carriers and vendor-managed components. The AIOps layer adds proactive anomaly detection and capacity forecasting — shifting network operations from reactive incident response to predictive infrastructure management.
Vendor-Agnostic Platform
Technology Partners — Your Choice, Zayo's Management
Zayo manages the technology you select — not the technology they sell. Full stack from WAN to LAN to WiFi to security.
SD-WAN
- Versa Networks
- VMware VeloCloud
- Palo Alto Prisma
- Fortinet
Security
- Netskope
- Cloudbrink
- Fortinet NGFW
- Palo Alto SASE
LAN / WiFi
- Aruba
- Cisco Meraki
- Juniper Mist
- Ruckus
Cellular
- Cradlepoint LTE/5G
- Managed 5G Modem
- LTE Failover
- Out-of-Band Mgmt
Compliance
Regulatory Framework Support
Zayo supports regulated enterprise deployments across healthcare, financial services, and government — with private network infrastructure, SOC 2 certifications, and compliance-aligned managed service configurations.
Zayo supports HIPAA-eligible network deployments for healthcare organizations — including hospital systems, health networks, and digital health providers requiring private, SLA-backed connectivity and BAA-eligible managed service configurations for PHI-adjacent environments.
Zayo supports PCI-DSS compliant network environments for financial services, retail, and e-commerce customers — with private connectivity options (Wavelengths, Ethernet, IP VPN) that isolate payment card data from public internet exposure and satisfy PCI network security control requirements.
Zayo maintains SOC 2 certifications for its managed services and colocation operations — providing enterprise customers with third-party assurance of security, availability, and confidentiality controls across its managed network and data center portfolio.
Zayo supports federal government and DoD-adjacent connectivity requirements — with secure, private network infrastructure appropriate for agencies and defense contractors requiring network isolation and compliance documentation for government data handling.
Why Use Fibi
Zayo Direct vs. Zayo Through Fibi
Your contract is with Zayo either way. The difference is the advisory, competitive comparison, and advocacy layer.
| Aspect | Zayo Direct | Zayo Through Fibi |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Published rack rate | Volume-negotiated — equal or better |
| Platform comparison | Zayo only | Zayo vs AT&T, Lumen, Fidium, GTT, others |
| Quote turnaround | Fast for Quick-Connect (pre-staged) | 24–48 hrs across all providers, incl. on-net |
| SD-WAN platform | Vendor-agnostic (Zayo selects w/ you) | Carrier-agnostic + platform-agnostic advisory |
| Contract support | Zayo account team | Independent advisor representing you |
| Post-go-live | Zayo NOC 24/7 + zInsights portal | Fibi escalation + Zayo NOC + zInsights |
| Advisory fee | N/A | $0 — vendor-funded |
FAQ
Common Questions About Zayo
Get a Free Zayo Quote Through Fibi
Fibi will evaluate Zayo alongside AT&T, Lumen, Fidium, GTT, and other fiber and WAN providers for your specific locations — benchmarking Dark Fiber, Wavelengths, DIA, SD-WAN, and colocation options — and negotiate pricing on your behalf. No obligation, no sales pressure.
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