This represents the shortest distance route commercially available between the Pacific Northwest and Midwest; Ziply offers lowest latency and 4X capacity found on most West-East commodity routes
Kirkland, Washington (October 21, 2024) Ziply® Fiber today announced that its “Northern Link Route” – a 400 Gig, low-latency, high-capacity long-haul transport route connecting Hillsboro, Portland, Seattle, Spokane, Missoula, Billings, Minneapolis, Chicago and dozens of other major cities in between – is ready for service along the western half of the route, with full service to and from Chicago launching by the end of the year. The route, which Ziply Fiber expects will offer the lowest latency of any West-East connection from the Pacific Northwest to the Midwest, will enable commercial customers to access high-capacity 400 Gig wavelength, 100 Gig wavelength, 10 and 100 Gig transit services, as well as dark fiber offerings.
“Ziply’s Northern Link Route offers tremendous diversity and redundancy for the more commonly used Canadian routes that run between Chicago and the Pacific Northwest,” said Chris Gellos, vice president and general manager of commercial for Ziply Fiber. “While typical West-East routes offer 10 or perhaps 100 Gig transport, Ziply Fiber’s new route will provide 400 Gig wavelength service, four times the capacity offered by most connections today.”
To enable the Northern Link Route, Ziply Fiber is taking advantage of coherent optics technology from Ciena (NYSE: CIEN), a global leader in networking systems, services, and software.
“Between wanting an easy connection into the Seattle Internet Exchange or trading traffic coming from Asia looking for the lowest latency route to Chicago, we see dozens of use cases for this service,” added Gellos. “This cutting-edge network promised unprecedented speeds and reliability, ideal for carriers and hyperscalers alike.”
Commercial customers will also benefit from the entirely subterranean nature of the route, making it much more immune to natural disasters like wildfires or storms that have caused damage over the years on the commodity routes and forced the rerouting of internet traffic. In many ways, Ziply’s Northern Link Route provides a safer, more reliable, diverse option than what exists today.
About Ziply Fiber
Ziply Fiber is a local, Northwest-based company headquartered in Kirkland, Washington, with major offices in Everett, Washington; Beaverton, Oregon; and Hayden, Idaho. Most of Ziply Fiber’s executive team, which consists of former executives from AT&T, CenturyLink, and Wave Broadband, have lived and worked in the Northwest for the majority of their careers. That local ownership and market familiarity is an important part of the company mindset and culture. Ziply Fiber’s primary service offerings are Fiber Internet and phone for residential customers, Business Fiber Internet and Ziply Voice services for small businesses, and a variety of Internet, networking, and voice solutions for enterprise customers. The company continues to support Ziply Internet (DSL) customers, and its TV customers in Washington and Oregon. A full listing of products and services can be found at ziplyfiber.com.
About Ciena
Ciena (NYSE: CIEN) is a global leader in networking systems, services, and software. We build the most adaptive networks in the industry, enabling customers to anticipate and meet ever-increasing digital demands. For three-plus decades, Ciena has brought our humanity to our relentless pursuit of innovation. Prioritizing collaborative relationships with our customers, partners, and communities, we create flexible, open, and sustainable networks that better serve all users—today and into the future. For updates on Ciena, follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, the Ciena Insights blog, or visit www.ciena.com.
Media Contacts:
Dan Miller, Curator PR for Ziply Fiber Jessica Christopher, Curator PR for Ziply Fiber
206-979-4055 610-945-8615