Low-latency dark fiber leasing

Dark fiber · Long-haul trading routes

Spread's signature route is an 825-fiber-mile connection between the New York and Chicago financial markets. CME Group's provider listing documents its dark-fiber offering and access to key trading colocation facilities. Spread is now part of Zayo's network portfolio.www.cmegroup.com+4

Why evaluate it: A purpose-built, direct route for one of the most latency-sensitive U.S. trading corridors.

CME Group's Spread Networks listing

2. Zayo

Dark fiber · Metro and long-haul

Zayo offers low-latency financial connectivity on multiple routes, including New York–Chicago and the New Jersey equity triangle. Its network also supports diverse routes and broader geographic reach.www.zayo.com+1

Why evaluate it: A candidate for both the primary route and physically diverse backup paths, especially if your strategy spans multiple markets.

Zayo Global Low Latency Network

3. Lightpath

Metro dark fiber · New York region

Lightpath emphasizes owned fiber, engineered routes, and measured round-trip latency before contract signature. Its stated footprint covers 11 metro markets, with dense coverage around New York.lightpathfiber.com

Why evaluate it: If your bottleneck is the last few miles between exchange colocation sites, data centers, and your trading servers, metro routing may be more important than the long-haul carrier.

Lightpath latency-sensitive connectivity

4. NexGen Networks

Financial-market transport · Private connectivity

NexGen has a documented history of building low-latency fiber transport for financial trading firms, including New York–Chicago connectivity. Its current route performance and availability should be confirmed directly.www.nexgen-net.com

Why evaluate it: An additional bidder for route-level comparison, pricing, and alternative network design.

NexGen Networks

What actually determines the lowest latency?

For HFT, I would request a technical proposal from each shortlisted carrier containing the following:

Important: If you lease dark fiber, you can control the optical equipment you deploy, but the physical route still imposes a propagation-delay floor. In fiber, light travels at roughly 200,000 km/s, so an extra 100 km of fiber adds approximately 0.5 ms one-way before equipment delays.

For the lowest possible latency, compare the carriers' actual measured routes rather than relying on marketing claims such as “ultra-low latency” or “fastest network.”

Let’s narrow this down to your exact trading route

The most useful next step is to identify the exchange endpoints. A provider that is competitive for NY–Chicago may not be the best option for connections within New Jersey or between European markets.

Specify your target route

Choose your endpoints and requirements to focus the provider comparison.

Origin market

New York / New Jersey

Chicago

London

Frankfurt

Other / multiple markets

Destination market

Chicago

New York / New Jersey

London

Frankfurt

Other / multiple markets

Primary objective

Absolute minimum latency, regardless of cost

Minimum latency with a diverse backup route

Lowest cost while meeting a strict latency target

Preferred connectivity

Dedicated dark fiber

Dark fiber plus managed low-latency alternatives

Exchange or colocation endpoints (optional)

[Input placeholder: e.g. NYSE Mahwah ↔ CME Aurora] (Current value unavailable.)

[Compare providers for my route]

With the endpoints identified, the comparison can focus on the actual routes, documented latency figures, and providers worth contacting for a measured quote—not simply the biggest fiber operators.

If you're targeting a specific route (like New York to Chicago, London to Frankfurt , or a specific metro data center cluster ), let me know so I can narrow down which provider owns the most direct path for those specific endpoints.