Partnership offers platform for automated metro connectivity

A partnership has been announced between ZenFi, New York’s carrier-neutral front haul fiber provider, and Cross River Fiber, a New Jersey-based fiber optic and telecommunications service provider, which will focus on streamlining the ability for customers to connect to their resources.

Together, the companies are launching zXc (ZenCross Connect), a self-service platform enabling automated purchase and configuration of interbuilding and interstate network cross-connects. Leveraging a robust fiber-optic network, zXc offers a streamlined portal for ordering bandwidth between data centers and co-location facilities in the New York/New Jersey metro area, making interconnections simple and easy to procure.

Through the zXc platform, ZenFi and Cross River Fiber provide pre-provisioned, on-demand dark fiber and 1GB/10GB lit services between 28 major data centers and colocation facilities in and around New York and New Jersey. Customers are guided through a series of simple, online ordering steps through which they identify the route, select products, agree to the terms and conditions and, if they want, pay the initial invoice – all through one website. Orders are for month-to-month service and configurations can be completed within minutes with uncomplicated point-and-click location features. Services are delivered within 15 days.

Ray LaChance, President and CEO of ZenFi, commented: “Companies want to be able to order a circuit from point A to point Z immediately, automatically and on-demand.”

LaChance added: “Other companies have tried to implement similar services, but none have developed such a robust and user-friendly platform as zXc. Realizing that the marketplace wants faster delivery, ease of ordering and competitive pricing, ZenFi and Cross River Fiber has created this platform to provide leading-edge transport services, within and between the New York-New Jersey marketplace, which are straightforward to order and provide rapid deployment.”

“We really wanted to create a simple tool that would eliminate the cumbersome process that exists today when ordering bandwidth; we believe zXc changes that process,” commented Vincenzo Clemente, CEO of Cross River Fiber. “As businesses continue to become more digital and cloud centric, access to transport services between data centers is becoming a commoditized necessity. We believe zXc is as transparent and streamlined as it gets when having to procure these services.”

ZenFi and Cross River Fiber will launch zXc in January 2017 with 28 co-location facilities connected. Over the next two years, the network and coverage areas for zXc will continue to grow to meet the demands of customers and expand capacity to carry the growing traffic load.