Pilot Fiber delivers end-to-end enterprise connectivity across NYC and New Jersey

The challenge

The enterprise connectivity gap

Pilot supports connectivity for New York City’s enterprise and financial services sectors, including applications in trading, quantum, and AI inference. These sectors increasingly require high-capacity interconnection to major data center hubs in New Jersey, typically located about 15–60 km from their Manhattan counterparts.

Alongside the need for high-capacity connectivity between NYC and New Jersey, Pilot identified another enterprise challenge that aligned closely with its approach, as Pilot CEO Joe Fasone explains:

“We could see that having to light and manage dark fiber spans created complexity for a lot of enterprises. This consistent feedback shaped our approach, providing rapid access to scalable optical systems that make connections faster to set up and easier to use. We saw an opportunity to reduce this friction for enterprise customers by offering a turnkey service.”

The Solution

Redundant design for reliable enterprise connectivity

Pilot now delivers fully managed, end-to-end connectivity using wavelength services between its NYC network and major data center hubs in New Jersey. Pilot's core backbone interconnects data centers, while the access network connects office buildings back to that core. Across both the optical and IP layers, redundancy is engineered so that data centers are connected through multiple diverse, ROADM-enabled paths, and office buildings are connected to multiple data centers.

“Internally, one of our core philosophies is to design for reliability so that outages don’t need to become emergencies, allowing our customers to continue on with their workday while we take care of the underlying issue in the background. Having a DWDM platform from Smartoptics that supports a redundant design, delivers reliable performance, and is ready to integrate into how we operate helps us reduce that risk for both our team and our customers,” says Joe.

Fast time to market in space-constrained POPs

Pilot’s wavelength services run on an 800G-ready Smartoptics ROADM architecture that also supports its transition to 400G across the IP backbone. The ROADMs are paired with transponders, enabling rapid deployment of new links, particularly in space-constrained POPs.

“Being able to turn up a ROADM and provision a customer circuit with two 1RU boxes is a game-changer. It allows us to deliver 800G waves in sites that may have previously been considered at capacity due to hardware and space constraints. With any new product, you expect some complexity, but we were able to install and test the equipment and bring services online in about two weeks. That time to market gave us real confidence in the platform,” says Joe.

The Result

Rapid high-capacity service delivery supporting enterprise growth and automation

Pilot is further expanding in the enterprise segment, backed by redundant end-to-end connectivity reaching into New Jersey. This expansion is also supported by a more competitive offering enabled by cost-efficient deployment in space-constrained environments. An 800G-ready architecture supports flexible scaling, securing future network growth. At the same time, SoSmart strengthens Pilot’s ability to plan, manage, and operate its ROADM-based network.

“We are moving toward our vision of fully automated wavelength services to enable a fast and seamless service delivery experience. We’re already integrating SoSmart into our internal tooling. In SoSmart, being able to see the full service path gives us confidence that services will behave as expected, and pre-provisioning services in advance helps us bring them online much faster. Smartoptics is always supportive and easy to reach, and it’s clear they share our focus on making connectivity reliable, predictable, and easier to deliver at scale,” says Fasone.