British data center provider Ark Data Centres has got vastly increased network capacity thanks dark fibre provided to its South of England site, by Zayo Group.

Ark has two data centers, and already had dark fiber links to its Spring Park facility in a former stonemine with a million square feet of space, in Corsham Wiltshire, thanks to an agreement with Geo Networks. Geo was acquired by Zayo in May 2014, and Ark has now done a deal with the parent to get high capacity links to its other site, at Cody Park in Farnborough near London.

Dark fiber hands a glass fiber to the user, in this case Ark, allowing it to implement any amount of bandwidth on it, handing on increasing bandwidth to its customers in the form of dedicated links, and improving connectifity to London, the rest of the UK and the world. Geo connected Ark's Spring Park site in 2011, and Zayo' allowed it to increase connectivity.

Adding more fiber
Zayo has 450,000 km of fiber across the UK, which already connects 130 data centers with dedicated fiber and unique routes. Its network covers obvious hubs including Docklands, Slough, Manchester and Dublin. Since buying Geo it has added over 2,100 route miles to its European network, and connectivity to 587 on-net buildings. For Ark, Zayo has added a link 21km long.

"Zayo's services are widely used by the financial sector and this extension of the existing Geo relationship is highly strategic for us,” explained Huw Owen, CEO of Ark Data Centres. "The investment will ultimately allow us to address the needs of those financial companies and others looking to host out of London.”

Zayo took the opportunity to tout its services: "Zayo's London dark fibre network offers flexibility and control, providing Ark customers with the resilient, secure network connections they need to support existing and future business needs,” boasted Alastair Kane, European vice president at Zayo.