Ziply^® Fiber's 400 Gig "Northern Link Route" goes live, offering shortest commercially available route and 39.5ms roundtrip latency between Pacific Northwest and Chicago

Big Picture

• Shortest commercially available route between Midwest and Pacific Northwest
• 39.5ms roundtrip latency between Seattle and Chicago using BER testing
• Route offers 4X capacity found on most West-East commodity routes
• Perfect for hyperscalers, financial institutions, data center operators and more

Kirkland, Washington (April 13, 2026)—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, Bismark, Fargo, Minneapolis, Madison and Chicago and dozens of other major cities in between—is now fully live and ready for service along the entire 2,100-mile route, including full connectivity to and from Chicago. The route, which launched limited operations along the Western portion of the route's path in October 2024, is now fully operational.

Why it Matters

"When high-speed traders have millions of dollars on the line, milliseconds matter," said Chris Gellos, commercial general manager for Ziply Fiber. "Between financial institutions, data center operators, hyperscalers, and many others, we are carrying traffic today for a wide range of industries that need ultra-low latency combined with the shortest path from the Midwest to the Pacific Northwest and that's what Ziply Fiber's Northern Link Route delivers."

To enable the Northern Link Route, Ziply Fiber is taking advantage of coherent optical technology from Ciena, the global leader in high-speed connectivity.

Safer and More Reliable

Commercial customers also benefit from the route's fully subterranean design, which provides greater immunity to natural disasters like wildfires or storms that have historically disrupted commodity routes and forced traffic rerouting. Ziply Fiber's Northern Link Route provides a safer, more reliable, and diverse option as compared to competing providers.

Colocation Services Also Available

• Ziply Fiber also has colocation services at more than 200 secure facilities across Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.
• This gives businesses a cost-effective solution for housing their network servers and critical infrastructure and an alternative to building and maintaining their own facilities by using Ziply Fiber's facilities—many located along the Northern Link Route—at a fraction of the cost.
• Ziply Fiber's colocation facilities offer redundant network access, 24/7 security, diverse power, simplified compliance and more, allowing companies to scale without the need for large capital investments.

About Ziply Fiber

Ziply Fiber, home to America's Fastest Home Internet—50 Gig, is an independent business unit of Bell Canada, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BCE Inc. (TSX, NYSE: BCE), Canada's largest communications company. Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Kirkland, Washington, Ziply Fiber's Northwest roots include a senior leadership team that has lived and worked in the communities we serve. That local market mindset and history are important parts of the company culture and vision for the future. More information on the company's products and services can be found at ziplyfiber.com.

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