Ziply Fiber has completed a fiber ring connecting 11 data centers in Hillsboro OR to each other and to downtown Portland. The fiber ring project, nicknamed the Ziply Silicon Forest Ring, began in 2020.
Ziply, which is based in Kirland, WA, also announced multiple diverse long-haul transport options between Portland and Seattle. These provide increased redundancy and reliability between the cities, Ziply said.
The ring is comprised of about 61 kilometers of 864-count fiber cable and 30 kilometers of 1728-count cable. It is carrier- and data central-neutral and offers direct access to Ziply’s long haul network, which offers terabits of capacity on multiple routes out of the Portland metro. On the local level, the ring provides high capacity connectivity and access to dark fiber between data centers.
Ziply says that its offerings are flexible. The company provides access to services emanating from each data center without any dependency on a particular combination of data centers to deliver those services.
Ziply’s regional Portland footprint offers lit and dark connectivity options that provide a path to area data centers from anywhere in the company’s footprint. Ziply can either manage customer’s Internet service or provide them with dark fiber in the Hillsboro and Portland areas.
“Our goal with this project was to make it so that companies no longer need to worry about their data, where it sits or how it moves around, but rather can focus on what they do best – pursuing their mission and driving results for their business,” John van Oppen, Ziply’s Vice President, Network, said in a press release.
The Ziply Silicon Forest Ring and the direct interconnection that it supports will “benefit businesses throughout the region, and will give them the capacity, reliability and redundancy they need,” he said.
Earlier this month, Ziply secured $350 million debt funding to fuel expansion in the northwest. The funding is aimed at enabling it to meet its fiber expansion goals, which call for reaching 80% of the company’s footprint by 2024.
