Our Network

A network built for the future

Zen operates one of the largest independent IP networks in the UK, but size isn't everything. We've invested significantly for better performance, better resilience, and a network that operates without limits or restrictions.

690+

Points of Presence

44 Tb/s

Worth of Exchange Interconnects

5 Tb/s

Network Backhaul

Growing our network

Continual improvement has always been a hallmark of Zen. As an independent business, we’re able to reinvest our profit back into our people and technology, and that includes our network.

Our most recent network upgrade has increased our on-net reach to nearly 700 points of presence across the UK, deploying 4,375 10Gb/s exchange interconnects and increasing our network capacity to 44Tb/s. We’ve also connected our first 100Gbps backhaul in our Rochdale exchange and deployed our first ever 20Gbps exchange, for a scalable high-capacity network built to meet our customers’ growing demands.

Our Network

Explore the Zen network

Zen now has points of presence in around 700 Openreach exchanges UK-wide after hitting its latest network expansion milestone. But what does that mean for Zen customers?

Resolve and detect faults: Fault complexity has been reduced thanks to the Zen owned equipment being more easily accessible to our team of expert engineers. Any required fixes across our network are now generally more easily detected and resolved.
Scalable backhaul: Our multi-vendor scalable backhaul and ports come with up to 100GB at each point of presence. This also means we can provide backhaul upgrades overnight rather than having to roll out new kit and links.
Lower latency: Customers will experience lower latency from the exchange with all our own equipment each side of the edge and core.
A fully monitored network: With all devices and ports at the points of presence (PoPs) now fully monitored, issues can be quickly detected before causing customer impact.
Faster onboarding: The onboarding of new customers and services is quicker and more streamlined, which means less time waiting for go-live dates.
Increased resiliency: The PoP at each of our exchanges is dual homed to two different core sites, providing resiliency if one backhaul path or even a core site is lost.

Networking and automation

A software defined approach to networking

Our approach to network build and management has changed considerably over the last 28 years. The days of logging into devices, copying and pasting code, and building a network through spreadsheets has given way to a completely automated process executed in software.

We’ve literally rebuilt our approach from scratch, using repositories, pipelines, continuous deployment and continuous integration – all techniques more familiar to those in the software world.

Network configuration

Configuration management and deployment workflow

Initiating and validation configuration changes using Azure DevOps and Ansible.

Template updated - Network Engineer makes template changes in new branch.
Templates saved and stored - Azure Dev Ops repo will save and manage configuration changes.
Changes applied by Ansible in the lab - Target systems and baselines defined, configuration applied to target nodes.
Ansible automates integration testing - Use of test platforms to replicate Zen services.

Ahead of the curve

Staying ahead of the demand curve

Like most providers, 2020’s unprecedented demands saw a massive increase in bandwidth consumption across our network, and though things settled a little, a new baseline in demand was created.

Subsequent annual increases in demand have led to consistently growing numbers on our network, with seasonal spikes often driven by large game releases and live sport streaming.

At Zen, we’re committed to delivering a smooth experience to our users even in the face of these record numbers, and we continually improve our network performance and capacity to ensure it is never at risk of congestion. You can read more about the factors driving demand on our network here and here.

+237%

increase in bandwidth usage across our network in 4 years.

35%

CAGR

Core Network

Our core network

Our UK wide network is interconnected at 8 Points of Presence:

2x Manchester
6x London

These sites are all interconnected resiliently by fibre running at up to 300Gb/s.

Data Centre

Our data centre

We have recently invested £2.3 million into our data centre in Rochdale.

Getting connected

Ran 3km cable across the country.

Battery backups

Installed 27 tonnes of batteries.

Robust fail-safes

Installed 4x 400kW Modular UPS.

Secure power

Installed 2 x 1 MW (megawatt) generators.

Keeping it cool

Free air cooling.

Safety first

Fire suppression.

Private peering

90% of Zen traffic is to private peering sessions with the likes of:

In the past 12 months we’ve upgraded 10 of our busiest private peers to at least 100Gbps, which is the equivalent to 1 Tb/s worth of additional capacity keeping well ahead of where we need to be.

Key partners

Our key partners

Businesses across the UK are using our range of services for improved performance, security, communication, collaboration and success. But don’t just take our word for it. See what some of our customers think.