What Is a KMZ File and What Does It Have to Do With My ISP Circuit?

If you’re involved in procuring dedicated internet or WAN circuits for your enterprise, you’ve likely come across the acronym KMZ. But what does it mean, and why is it relevant to your business? Today, the Lightyear.ai team is here to walk you through everything you need to know about .kmz files and how they boost your telecommunications network.

Defining KMZ Files

A .kmz file is similar to a standard zip file but serves a specific purpose. It is a compressed format of a Keyhole Markup Language (KML) file. These files store important geographic coordinates, such as place markers, shapes, images, or any data that can be displayed on a map. 

While most people associate KMZ files with Google Earth, they are also widely used in the telecommunications industry. These compressed files will typically contain the KML file to describe the geographic data it contains, along with any necessary supporting files, like images, icons, and 3D models.

The Value of KMZ Data in Enterprise Telecom Procurement

You’ve likely never thought of a program like Google Earth as offering particular value to your telecommunications needs. However, KMZ data plays a crucial role in ISP circuit procurement for enterprise businesses. It brings significant value in infrastructure planning, service evaluation, and cost optimization. Let’s take a closer look at why.

In telecommunications procurement, KMZ files provide a geospatial representation of network infrastructure. This includes fiber routes, cell towers, data centers, and other critical assets. This visual data allows enterprise customers to make smart decisions when selecting service providers or planning a network expansion.

In particular, KMZ data lets you:

• Evaluate Coverage: Companies can assess potential providers' network reach and identify any gaps in coverage that could impact their operations.

• Optimize Costs: By visualizing the proximity of network infrastructure to their locations, companies can negotiate better rates based on actual placement. They can also better plan for how many ISPs they need to achieve their goals.

• Plan Redundancy: KMZ data aids in designing diverse and redundant network paths, ensuring robust business continuity planning.

• Facilitate Multi-Vendor Strategies: Enterprises can compare networks to implement a diverse and resilient telecommunications infrastructure.

• Support Expansion Planning: When considering new office locations or data centers, KMZ data lets you make decisions based on your connectivity options.

• Enhance Disaster Recovery: Geographical data like this also aids in assessing the risks from natural disasters and lets you plan for smart disaster recovery.

• Improve Time-to-Market: Accurate infrastructure data speeds up the procurement process by identifying viable options.

By using KMZ data smartly, enterprise businesses can make more strategic decisions in their telecommunications procurement. This can lead to improved network performance, reduced costs, and enhanced resilience across both primary and secondary carriers and their networks.

Opening a KMZ File

As noted above, .kmz files are simply a specific type of compressed file. While you can, if you’re curious, rename and open the file as a standard .zip file, that won’t give you much useful information. 

To properly open and use a .kmz file, you need a Geographic Information System (GIS) tool. You can find free and paid versions of these tools on the market. For most people, Google Earth offers a handy way to access a GIS tool without fuss. It's free to use, and most people find it user-friendly. Of course, it’s not as feature-rich as some of the tools on the market, but if you’re in a pinch, it will get the job done.

We won’t delve deeply into other GIS tools since that’s outside the scope of this blog post. However, you can find both general-use tools that offer additional features beyond Google Earth and specialized tools tailored for specific needs. Here are some of the most popular GIS options available:

• ArcGIS

• QGIS

• MapInfo Pro

• Global Mapper

• ERDAS Imagine

• GeoServer

• Grass GIS

• Carto

• Saga GIS

A Typical Use Case for KMZ Files

The real question is why you would need this data. There are several use cases for .kmz files. A common one on the Lightyear platform involves customers connecting two major hub locations via DWDM Wavelength Point-to-Point circuits. Let’s look at an example.

Using KMZ Data to Build Diverse and Redundant Connections

A hypothetical customer requires two connections, both with full path diversity and carrier redundancy. Path diversity ensures that two physical routes are completely separate, eliminating any single point of failure in the enterprise-grade network. Carrier redundancy, meanwhile, entails selecting different service providers to ensure that no carrier’s network can become a single point of failure either.

In a situation like this, the first circuit and path are pretty straightforward to create. Mostly, this choice hinges on ensuring the customer’s specific objectives for carriers are met, including pricing, latency, jitter, and offered SLA terms.

The real trick lies in ensuring the secondary circuit does not overlap with the first. Previously, we’ve discussed why it can be hard to ensure network operators’ infrastructure does not overlap due to carrier aggregation and Type 2 connections. So, typically, as part of the overall contracting process, the customer will request a .kmz file from the carrier to understand the circuit’s path.

Most carriers require non-disclosure agreements, or NDAs, to be signed before they’ll show you where their fiber is run. It’s generally regarded as confidential to the carrier, and service providers prefer that their network isn’t widely disseminated. This NDA binds the customer to ensure that the carrier’s KMZ data is not shared further. Now, using a hypothetical carrier that connects a site in Washington DC to a site in Silicon Valley, this is what the customer would see when opening the .kmz file in a GIS tool, like Google Earth:

The customer now knows exactly what route their primary choice of carrier uses. Next, they need to find a secondary path that is fully diverse from the primary. It’s not as simple as merely forwarding the KMZ to other carriers and asking them to provide their connection via an alternative path. The NDA forbids that. Of course, the potential service providers quoting the secondary path can also provide KMZs. So, some detective work is needed. 

Securing a Secondary Carrier with KMZ Data

This is where our imaginary customer needs to look at the individual .kmz files’ data to see if they’re fully diverse from the primary path. Here’s what you would look for in a case like this:

Typically, you start at the highest level and zoom in on the granular aspects of the paths. 

In the example paths given below, you can see there are two problematic areas:

• #1 shows where the two paths intersect: This is somewhat common and sometimes unavoidable, depending on the sites that are being connected.

• #2 shows where the paths completely collapse: This is also common; it routinely happens at somewhat predictable places.

But what typically causes these bottlenecks or points of concern? There are a few challenges commonly faced by network and telecommunications infrastructure:

• Major Terrain Features: In this example, the routes collapse at the southern edge of the rocky mountains. It’s easier to run fiber around mountains than it is to go through or over them. This is often a flashpoint for rural and remote businesses needing strong connectivity solutions.

• Oceanic Crossings: It’s common for routes to collapse and ride the same cable systems across the oceans. For the best possible diversity and redundancy, however, this should be avoided where possible. 

• Landing and Repeater Stations: These are also a common problem. Even if the circuits cross the ocean on different cables, they will often terminate in a single building. It’s also common for different cables to use the same repeater sites. For example, when crossing the Pacific Ocean for a connection between Los Angeles and Tokyo, cables often terminate in Hawaii as a regeneration point.

• Local Waterways: Crossing any body of water often results in a similar bottleneck. For example, there are many cable systems that traverse the Suez Canal. Customers needing to connect European sites to Asia Pacific sites will run into difficulties with this particular point.

• Geo-Political Hot Spots: Some carriers and customers wish to avoid certain areas for geo-political reasons. Whether it’s a disagreement with policies or concerns about looming or active war zones, there are various reasons to avoid countries or regions with real or perceived issues.

• Local Congestion: When long-haul routes get close to their destination, carriers have difficulty avoiding common routes. Routes commonly collapse when they need to cross major highways, train tracks, national forests, and so on, creating challenges in gaining approval for construction.

In the example case, the customer noticed those two intersecting points. Remember, #1 shows where the two routes intersect, while #2 shows where they collapse.

It is common to encounter similar single points of failure at the destination site itself, especially at the point of entry into the building. This will always need careful review.

Be sure to scout out regeneration sites and Points of Presence (PoPs), as these are often a single point of failure. Even if you have diverse paths and redundant carriers, if they collapse routes at the same PoP, the building itself becomes a single point of failure!

Addressing Concerns Found Through KMZ Data

So, now what for our hypothetical customer? They have identified potential single points of failure between their two desired carriers, but what can they do with this information?

In such cases, the next logical step is to notify the secondary carrier of the problematic areas and request a redesign to avoid these points. Typically, they will be willing to accommodate this for enterprise-grade consumers. A typical first response might look something like the screenshots below. However, while the single point of failure issues have been addressed, the route isn’t optimal when it comes to latency objectives. Sometimes, you have to settle for a little higher latency to alleviate the single point of failure. If the secondary connection is purely for diversity and redundancy issues, it may not matter all that much to you, either. It is, however, best practice to acknowledge the benefits, and yet still ask if there are any other cable routes with lower latency.

Ideally, this process should lead to the following outcomes. While it may not always yield the perfect solution, as outlined by Lightyear below, you should at least arrive at a better telecommunications solution for your network than what was initially proposed. 

• Full Separation: The primary and secondary carriers’ routes no longer share infrastructure.

• Carrier Redundancy: The customer can now use two service providers to ensure they always have a connectivity solution that meets their needs. 

• Full Path Diversity: At no point in the new routing is there a single point of failure on the path for either carrier’s infrastructure. This means no crossing or collapsing of the path, either. 

Similar Path Latency: With a little luck, the customer has addressed any latency concerns with the secondary carrier due to the re-routing, and so can enjoy similar performance benchmarks across both carrier networks.

It should now be clear that KMZ data plays a crucial role in the design and implementation of telecommunications networks for enterprise-level consumers. KMZ data allows enterprises to visually map their network assets, including data centers, fiber routes, and cell towers. This provides a clear geographical overview of their infrastructure.

Using this data, companies can efficiently plan network expansions, identify coverage gaps, and optimize resource allocation based on accurate geographical information. These files also enable enterprises to assess risks to their infrastructure from natural disasters or other geographical factors, facilitating better disaster recovery planning and resilience strategies.

While the core concept behind using .kmz files is simple, using and interpreting them can be a headache for procurement teams. Luckily, KMZ data review for customer routes is one of the many time-saving features that come with using the Lightyear platform for your circuit procurement. If you’re ready to try it, why not head over to the Lightyear platform? Our experienced and helpful team will do the rest. 

Disclaimer: None of the screenshots used in this blog post are KMZ files from any actual service provider’s network. The screenshots show imaginary routes created for illustration purposes only.