The company, owned by Swedish investor EQT and US-based DigitalBridge, said he will lead its overall product strategy, financials and roadmap as it “continues to make significant investments in its network and products and services to meet customer needs”.
Long was at Equinix, as senior VP of product management, for nine years, after a decade at Level 3 Communications – now absorbed into Lumen – where he was latterly VP of voice services.
Zayo group president Andrés Irlando: “Bill possesses a wealth of knowledge and experience overseeing product growth and profitability in the digital infrastructure space. … His experience, expertise and forward-thinking leadership will be an invaluable asset to Zayo as we continue to laser focus on delivering best-in-class infrastructure and managed services to our customers.”
Long said: “As more of global GDP becomes digitally enabled, the criticality of fibre and communications infrastructure connecting the edge to core to clouds is becoming increasingly important Zayo’s broad and deep geographic reach, along with its long-term commitment to network modernization and incredible team, have put the company in the ideal position to capitalize on this market opportunity.”
Zayo said the appointment of Long as chief product officer comes on the heels of a transformative year. The company made its largest organic network expansion to date, which encompasses long-haul dark fibre, 400Gbps upgrades and subsea routes, including the launch of Zeus, connecting the UK and continental Europe.
