Key points
- Migrated and expanded a critical Shanghai deployment to eliminate single-site risk and improve operational resilience
- Connected eight locations across China using Zenlayer Cloud Router with centralized monitoring, visibility, and control
- Strengthened internet resiliency with integrated primary and backup connectivity
About the customer
Industry: Biopharmaceutical research and manufacturing
Needs: Infrastructure reliability, visibility, redundancy, and responsive in-country support
Zenlayer services used: Cloud Router, IP Transit, Edge Colocation, Remote Hands and local support
The customer is a fast-growing industrial AI startup developing machine learning solutions for manufacturing automation. As they geared up to launch their platform and expand into multiple regions, they needed a reliable, high-performance global data architecture to support large-scale data ingestion, secure storage, and seamless access for distributed data science teams across public cloud environments.
Speed, scalability, and data privacy were key to meeting their deadlines and compliance around the world. The AI startup searched for a partner that could deliver quickly while providing the resources and capabilities needed to support their platform’s long-term growth and GPU-enabled workloads.
The challenge: improving resilience and visibility in China
The biopharmaceutical manufacturing leader operated a single point of presence in Shanghai that supported connectivity for multiple offices and data centers across the country. A prolonged data center outage at this key location highlighted the risk of relying on a single site and the associated challenges surrounding visibility, troubleshooting, and response times.
Although the customer worked with Tier-1 global providers, those carriers relied heavily on third parties for in-country infrastructure and support. This significantly limited visibility into incidents and delayed resolution when issues occurred, prompting the customer to reassess whether traditional Tier-1-only procurement models were enough to meet their operational needs within China.
Strengthening the Shanghai core with local operational control
We supported the migration and expansion of the biopharmaceutical manufacturer’s Shanghai deployment into a partner-operated, enterprise-grade data center.
While the facility itself is operated by a trusted local partner, we maintain a sizable footprint in Shanghai with dedicated on-site engineering teams who can step in directly to investigate, coordinate, and resolve incidents. This minimizes the customer’s reliance on third-party escalation chains to improve responsiveness and overall operational stability.
With a stronger, locally supported core in Shanghai, the customer reduced single-site risk and mitigated a critical point of failure, gaining greater confidence in the reliability of their China infrastructure and a clean, repeatable model for future expansions.
Unifying regional connectivity through centralized mesh networking
To improve connectivity and operational visibility, the biopharmaceutical manufacturer leveraged Cloud Router, our mesh networking service, deployed directly on our global private backbone. This network connected their newly established Shanghai core to eight strategic locations across China, forming a centrally managed and consistent architecture across sites.
Managed through zenConsole, our self-provisioning platform, Cloud Router provides centralized monitoring, alerts, and traffic visibility to give the customer a better understanding of network performance and facilitate rapid issue responses.
Running directly on our global private backbone also unlocked capabilities that could not be achieved via traditional colocation or piecemeal multi-provider solutions, empowering the customer to manage and operate their China network more proactively.
Reinforcing internet resiliency with built-in redundancy
To reinforce network resiliency in Shanghai, we provisioned IP Transit in-city as the primary path with built-in redundant connectivity. We also delivered last-mile connectivity to office locations, supporting the customer’s redundancy strategy while simplifying overall deployment and operations.
By consolidating core connectivity, backup paths, and last-mile services under a single operational partner, the customer drastically reduced infrastructure management complexity and improved coordination across their deployments in China, helping ensure consistent performance while aligning with global reliability standards.
Looking ahead
The customer now has a repeatable, scalable model for supporting operations across China. As their footprint grows, the same SDN-based architecture can be extended to new locations while maintaining consistent performance and operational control. Zenlayer will continue supporting ongoing operations and future expansion as requirements evolve.
Streamline global operations with Zenlayer
We leveraged our deep regional expertise, cloud networking service, and on-the-ground operational support to help the customer modernize and stabilize its infrastructure in China.
If you’re looking to expand your company’s global footprint, improve experiences for users, or accelerate apps or services, talk to a Zenlayer solution expert today.
For the fastest service, check out zenConsole — our self-service platform that lets you deploy around the world in minutes.
