Zayo Goes Big with SD-WAN

Zayo Group has launched a software-defined wide area networking offering.

The Boulder, Colorado-based communications infrastructure provider announced Wednesday that Zayo SD-WAN is now available. Zayo calls the service an extension of its “fiber-based IP/MPLS backbone with multiple SD-WAN gateways and localized entry points.” Main benefits of the offering are – according to Zayo – increased simplicity of management, improved performance and reliability, and additional failover options.

Zayo’s Mike Strople

“The WAN is one of the most critical components of any enterprise network infrastructure and can be complex and challenging to manage,” said Mike Strople, president of Zayo Enterprise Networks. “Zayo’s SD-WAN makes WAN management easier and more efficient, providing better performance, flexibility and reliability.”

The company says demand stems from an increasing amount of users interacting with the networking from an increasingly diverse set of locations and access options.

“Cloud-based enterprise applications add another layer of complexity. As a result, WAN management has become more challenging and resource intensive,” Zayo wrote in its announcement.

The offering comes in basic and advanced management options. The advanced version adds proactive remediation and additional security options like “next-generation firewall” and an intrusion prevention system. Companies can set priorities for the various applications and their paths within the network using dynamic traffic steering.

Zayo says customers can manage traffic on their own, but can outsource the monitoring and optimization duties to Zayo.

The company recently added to its mobile infrastructure network in Minneapolis with the goal of strengthening mobile capacity ahead of the upcoming Super Bowl in the city. Zayo in November announced plans to buy Spread Networks for $127 million, giving it a fiber route between Chicago and New York.