Zayo, a leading global communications infrastructure provider, and Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), the world’s digital infrastructure company®, unveiled the industry’s first AI Infrastructure Blueprint, a joint infrastructure architecture framework that defines how next-generation infrastructure powers AI workloads. For the first time, neocloud and AI providers have a framework that clarifies the roles of high-capacity networks, interconnection hubs, training and inference data centers, and provides a clear model for connecting them.

“In our view, this blueprint marks a pivotal step toward a common model for scaling AI across communications infrastructure.” – Craig Matsumoto, Contributing Analyst, Futuriom Research.

“AI is transforming the digital infrastructure landscape, but there’s been no playbook for connecting training, inference, and enterprise infrastructure,” explains Bill Long, Chief Product and Strategy Officer at Zayo. “Together with Equinix, we’re introducing a network standard and data center best practices that makes AI communication infrastructure scalable, extensible, and ready for what comes next.”

“Neoclouds and AI providers face a widening gap between their ambitions and the infrastructure needed to support them, with scaling networks among the toughest challenges. The AI Infrastructure Blueprint brings needed clarity to the industry by mapping how Zayo’s extensive fiber backbone with Equinix’s global connectivity fabric work together to give teams a repeatable model to scale and support low latency inference at the edge. In our view, this blueprint marks a pivotal step toward a common model for scaling AI across communications infrastructure,” Craig Matsumoto, Contributing Analyst, Futuriom Research.

Inside the AI Infrastructure Blueprint

AI at scale spans training locations, distributed inference, and network and interconnection nodes that link them. The AI Infrastructure Blueprint provides a clear infrastructure architecture framework for how these pieces fit together: Equinix as the neutral interconnection hubs for connecting networks, training and inference infrastructure; and Zayo as the high-capacity fiber and network services, linking hubs, data sources, and workloads.

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The result is a clear, structured path to roll out and scale AI communication infrastructure giving neocloud and generative AI providers practical private connectivity guidance to reduce complexity and speed rollout. The AI Infrastructure Blueprint is informed by design patterns grounded in decades of experience in IP peering and cloud connectivity for both Equinix and Zayo.

What the Blueprint Delivers

• Validated blueprints at scale: Scalable reference designs that focus on the network elements that matter at scale, reducing trial and error and shortening time to market for AI training and inference.
• Guidance that scales: Practical direction across key network layers and elements, informed by Equinix and Zayo’s cloud connectivity and IP peering experience, to help organizations design for long-term AI growth.
• A shared language for the AI ecosystem: Common terminology that aligns customers, partners, and vendors across the AI networking stack.

“As enterprises race to operationalize AI, they’re realizing success depends on more than GPUs. It requires distributed, high-performance connectivity that extends all the way to the edge,” said Arun Dev, VP Digital Interconnection at Equinix. “Through our AI Infrastructure Blueprint with Zayo, we’re giving customers a formula that combines Equinix’s 270+ interconnection hubs with Zayo’s fiber backbone, orchestrated through Equinix Fabric. And with Fabric Intelligence, those connections become smarter with real-time discovery, activation, and optimization that reduce integration risk, accelerate scale, and help ensure AI deployments evolve in step with the way the industry is moving.”

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As AI-driven bandwidth demand is expected to grow up to 6X by 2030, Zayo is actively investing in the fiber capacity and new routes required for AI-scale data movement, including a commitment to build over 5,000 new route miles of long-haul fiber. In addition, Zayo is supporting enterprise and AI-driven bandwidth growth by increasing their metro fiber footprint. The company announced plans in March to acquire Crown Castle’s fiber solutions business, adding 100,000+ metro route miles. The AI Infrastructure Blueprint operationalizes this strategy by defining how interconnection and transport come together in practice, building on Zayo’s leadership in AI and networking.

As businesses look to deploy next generation AI tools, such as AI agents, enterprises need to rethink their existing IT architecture. At its inaugural AI Summit , Equinix announced its Distributed AI infrastructure — a bold new approach to power the next wave of AI innovation. Equinix’s announcements include a new AI-ready backbone to support distributed AI deployments, a global AI Solution Lab to test new solutions, and Fabric Intelligence to better support next generation workloads for enterprises.