Zayo jumps into video transport

Zayo Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ZAYO) has announced it will enter the video transport market. The company has created a dedicated product team for its new Live Video service.

The service will aim to serve customers in the broadcast, production, video distribution, sports, and live event sectors. Zayo will offer video local loops for point-to-point live video and managed video, and distribution network services with long-haul video delivery. Its network also will support occasional use events for short-term turn up of live video.

The Zayo-owned core video network extends throughout the U.S. and U.K. and offers connectivity to "key destinations," gateways, on and off ramps, customer sites, and venues. This includes fiber-optic network infrastructure in Atlanta, Chicago, Washington, DC, Denver, Houston, Portland, New York, and London.

"Zayo's long-haul network and supporting infrastructure enables our customers to access hundreds of 'on-net' venues including stadiums, production and conference centers, hotels, and casinos – making our service highly flexible and competitive," said Walt Banfield, technology lead for Live Video. "Our deep fiber assets, combined with our new video technology and 24/7/365 monitoring, give customers unlimited broadcast and streaming video opportunities."

Zayo will manage the video network via a dedicated Video Network Control Center in Tulsa, OK. Customers can access the video network through the company's online Tranzact platform by mid-year, the company adds (see "Zayo Tranzact platform offers quick connection to AWS").

The fiber-optic network services providers says the National Basketball Association (NBA) was one of the first customers to use its video network. The professional basketball league tapped Zayo's infrastructure to transport live broadcast and video feeds for all NBA games beginning with the 2014-15 NBA season.

"We look forward to working with customers to solve their business challenges and our network ownership provides flexibility to meet their specific needs," said Mike Emerson, Live Video business unit lead at Zayo. "We believe the combination of our flexible approach, our experienced team, and the economics of our owned network assets will deliver exceptional value to customers."

For more information on high-speed transmission systems and suppliers, visit the Lightwave Buyer's Guide.