Zayo Group Holdings has announced plans for two new unique, low-latency long haul dark fibre networks from Columbus, Ohio to Ashburn, Virginia, and from Dallas, Texas to Atlanta, Georgia. Supported by signed customer user commitments, said Zayo, the connections are expected to be attractive to additional strategic customers looking for wavelength and fibre connectivity between the cities.

The Columbus to Ashburn network expansion will add around 400 route miles of high-capacity fibre and is expected to provide the lowest latency between the two cities, Zayo said. The route will also provide Zayo customers with the lowest latency route between Chicago and Ashburn, as it will bypass major network congestion and overlap points.

With its central US location and closeness to major population centres, Columbus has become an increasingly important data centre hub. Ashburn and Northern Virginia, known as “Data Center Alley”, has the largest concentration of data centres in the world. The new route will traverse West Virginia, providing a new fibre backbone across the state.

The 870-mile Dallas (pictured) to Atlanta route will connect these two key metro markets with the most direct, lowest latency route to date, said Zayo. Dallas and Atlanta are top ten population centres and top ten data centre markets, with numerous Fortune 500 headquarters located there. Both cities are also strategic markets for Zayo, with dense and growing metro fibre footprints driven in part by extensive fibre-to-the-tower (FTTT) builds.