08 June 2022
Global fibre-based communications provider Zayo Group Holdings and data centre business Equinix successfully completed a 400G trial, connecting data centres in London (Slough) and Paris on the former’s subsea fibre network.
Undertaken in Q1 2022, the 400G networking technology trial marks the latest joint innovation between the companies, as they seek to meet growing demand to move continually-increasing volumes of data ever faster.
As part of the trial, Zayo deployed a 500G optical channel on its 800G-enabled DWDM network.
It used the additional bandwidth to deploy an extra 100G wave for enhanced monitoring capabilities, creating increased visibility to ensure the consistent viability of the network. The connection managed to withstand full-load testing without any traffic loss.
Both companies said the new 400G technology produced many benefits by reducing hardware from four separate 100G optical cards to just one 400G card. This resulted in a simple application with fewer handoffs between the customer and Zayo, reducing the potential points of failure. Equinix streamlined operations by having fewer circuits to manage and operate its network while reducing costs. These achievements mark key differentiators for customers who build their networks around high bandwidth capacity, the companies added.
“At Zayo, not only are we focused on our customers’ connectivity needs today, we are preparing for their speed, latency, and capacity needs of tomorrow while simultaneously driving efficiencies and simplifying the overall network design,” said Yannick Leboyer, Zayo’s chief operating officer, Europe. “Equinix is sitting at the epicentre of several trends that are reshaping the industry – from digital transformation and big data to IoT and AI. Together, we’re future-proofing the ecosystem to help companies grow and innovate.”
As part of the trial, Equinix, which is also a colocation provider for enterprise network and cloud computing streamlined operations by having fewer circuits to manage and operate its network while reducing costs.
The company said the trial’s achievements mark key differentiators for customers who build their networks around high bandwidth capacity.
“Our success in this trial is about more than faster speeds; it’s about the outcomes it will enable for our customers, such as achieving the low-latency requirements of critical devices transforming everything from transportation to healthcare,” said Muhammad Durrani, senior director of global network architecture for Equinix. “As the first global data centre platform to trial 400G, we see tremendous potential in how it will help power our next generation of services.”
As part of the trial, Zayo said it also reduced power consumption per gigabit by 40% compared to prior generation hardware. In addition to reducing energy costs for customers, the achievement aligns with commitments by both Zayo and Equinix to sustainable business practices and efforts to reduce environmental impacts. Zayo has also achieved efficiencies in hardware and equipment usage, the company said.
In addition to reducing energy costs for customers, the companies added that this achievement aligns with commitments by both Zayo and Equinix to sustainable business practices and efforts to reduce environmental impacts.
Zayo’s communications infrastructure solutions include dark fibre, private data networks, wavelengths, ethernet, as well as dedicated internet access and data centre connectivity solutions.
Founded in Silicon Valley in 1998, Equinix has more than 220 data centres in over 60 markets on five continents.