The route will be primarily underground, spanning more than 500 route miles along Interstate 70. Once completed, it will offer unique connectivity and diversity between Salt Lake City and Denver – at present, Zayo’s existing route connects the two cites through Wyoming and into Utah.
“This flagship route will provide diversity that no other provider can offer,” said Dennis Kyle (pictured), senior vice president of Mountain Region at Zayo. “With many Silicon Valley companies relocating their offices to Salt Lake City and Denver, Zayo is well positioned to provide them with high-capacity fibre infrastructure to fuel their growth and innovation.”
The network route will link together two high-growth western markets and states. Colorado is ranked as one of the country’s fastest growing states with a diverse mix of business and industry. Its economic growth has been driven by technology, aerospace, healthcare and biotechnology and professional services.
At present, Zayo’s Denver fibre footprint consists of 1,600 route miles and the market is primary intersection of owned long haul dark fibre connecting Chicago, Dallas and San Francisco.
Conversely, Utah – particularly the Wasatch Front, has a strong technology presence, which includes cloud computing, big data, software development and booming aerospace and life sciences sectors. Zayo’s Denver fibre footprint consists of 1,200 route miles.
Construction of the new route began in Q2 of 2019 and is due for completion in 2021.
Last month, Zayo announced plans to expand its fibre networks in the central Florida cities of Tampa and Orlando by more than 2,300 route miles. The high-fibre count network build, which will have diverse connections and backhaul capabilities, involves multiple anchor contracts that will provide a backbone to carriers, enterprises and data centres requiring increasing amounts of bandwidth.
