Overview
Xandr, Inc., now an ad-tech subsidiary of Microsoft, has seen a lot of change in the 14 years since its inception. For one, Xandr has been involved in a number of acquisitions – both as the acquirer and the acquiree. Additionally, the digital ad-tech space has long been highly competitive and volatile, with ad-tech companies facing regulatory challenges, technological advancements, and platform and algorithm shifts.
With so much change happening so quickly, Xandr needs technology partners that can keep up. This is one of the qualities Gerry Quinones, Xandr’s Director of Data Center Operations, Procurement, and Logistics, who’s been with the company for nearly as long as it’s existed, looks out for. In his role, Gerry oversees anything housed in Xandr’s colocation sites, including 16,000 servers, Wavelength and IP Transit circuits, and any on-site hardware. Or, as he describes it, he ensures everything data center-related is “green and blinking and not red and screaming.”
Amid ongoing evolution, one thing, Gerry shares, has remained constant: Xandr’s partnership with Zayo. Xandr has long relied on Zayo solutions to enable data transfer, real-time processing, and global connectivity – elements critical to Xandr’s success in a competitive ad-tech landscape.
Ticking Xandr’s Checklist for a Great Network Partner
When choosing network partners and solutions, Xandr looks for a few key things:
High-Quality Network Solutions in the Right Places
First, global connectivity is important to the organization, which operates worldwide. Zayo Global Reach provides trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific subsea cables help ensure overseas connectivity to important data centers. While the vast majority of Xandr’s services are housed in the U.S., they also need to connect into data centers in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and Singapore. The Zayo group of companies, including Zayo Europe and Zayo Global Reach, provide connectivity into these key global data centers.
Overall, whether ordering subsea or terrestrial wavelengths, Xandr takes a hard look at what’s available and chooses best-in-class network solutions, available in their key locations. “We’re always looking to get the best latency possible, with the best pricing, and the best routing,” Gerry tells Zayo.
The Value of Owned Fiber
Aside from the location and quality of routes available, Xandr’s team also appreciates that Zayo is an easy network provider to work with. Much of that attests to the fact that Zayo owns a majority of the fiber network in North America and Zayo Europe owns most of the network in Europe.
Offering one of the largest owned fiber networks in these regions, Zayo can easily respond to maintenance, upgrade, and repair requests, providing consistent service quality and quick repair times. Owned routes enable predictable latency, guaranteed capacity, and greater control and flexibility for customers like Gerry, eliminating the pitfalls of working with a provider that leases the majority of their fiber.
A Frictionless, Long-Term Partnership Built on Trust
In addition to having the right latency and pricing to meet Xandr’s needs on independently-owned fiber routes, Zayo’s team has also played a key role in sustaining the long-term success of Zayo and Xandr’s partnership. The ability of Zayo’s team to listen and find the right solution for Xandr instead of telling them what they need without much input has been greatly appreciated.
“Zayo has the right people in the right places to make the customer happy,” Gerry explains, “You have smart people where they need to be so you can actually have an intelligent conversation and not go back and forth and waste everybody’s time.”
He nods to his relationship with his account manager in particular – someone he’s worked with for almost a decade. He can depend on her to get to work for him right away when there’s an outage or a new network need, connecting him with the right team to resolve things fast or deploy new circuits quickly.
“We’ve never had to wait more than two weeks for even a cross-country circuit to come online,” Gerry shares, “whereas that can take three months with other providers.”
Today, over half of Xandr’s global traffic transits Zayo circuits. It’s tough to tell what tomorrow holds in a quickly evolving industry, but Xandr’s team can rest assured that Zayo will be there to support their networking needs now and in the future.
Gerry reiterates this sentiment:
“Having a partner like Zayo that’s easy to work with to meet rapidly, constantly changing demands is beneficial.”
– Gerry Quinones
Director of Data Center Operations, Procurement, and Logistics at Xandr
Why Xandr Chose Zayo
Diverse, global connectivity solutions
Independently-owned network
A relationship built on trust
Responsive teams that are easy to work with
About Zayo
For more than 17 years, Zayo has empowered some of the world’s largest and most innovative companies to connect what’s next for their business. The Zayo group of companies connects 400 global markets with future-ready networks that span over 18 million fiber miles and 145,000 route miles. Zayo’s tailored connectivity solutions and managed services enable carriers, cloud providers, data centers, schools, and enterprises to deliver exceptional experiences, from core to cloud to edge. Discover how Zayo connects what’s next at www.zayo.com and follow us on LinkedIn.