Benefits, Use Cases & Deployment Advantages
In a world where connectivity is crucial and speed-to-deployment makes all the difference, Factory Built Networks (FBNs) are redefining how the most critical transport networks come to life. Instead of assembling and troubleshooting infrastructure in the field — one data center, central office, or pop site at a time — LightRiver offers a better path forward: a pre-engineered, pre-tested, and pre-packaged network, purpose-built in one centralized facility and delivered ready for deployment.
It’s not just a smarter way to build. It’s the LightRiver way—and we pioneered it.
What Is a Factory Built Network®?
A Factory Built Network (FBN) is a fully engineered, staged, and tested network constructed entirely within LightRiver’s factory environment before it ever reaches the field. This approach eliminates the inefficiencies and risks associated with assembling and troubleshooting infrastructure across scattered remote locations.
At LightRiver, we simulate everything—including the geographic distances between sites—within a single facility. Whether you’re building a network that spans a city, a state, or an entire nation, we can build, configure, and verify it all under one roof.
In other words:
- We design the network around your needs
- We source equipment from all the top vendors
- We receive and organize all equipment by site
- We assemble chassis, cards, jumpers, etc in a clean facility
- We provision network devices with needed configurations
- We test the network and burn in devices to catch any failures
- We solve any hardware or interoperability issues
- We package and ship the fully integrated components to the field
- And then, we send in our trained field teams to install and turn it up
It’s the ultimate “easy button” for network deployment. See how it works below.
Key Advantages of Factory Built Networks
Speed to Market
FBNs dramatically reduce deployment timelines. By solving issues in the factory—not the field—customers avoid delays caused by shipping faulty hardware back and forth or waiting for on-site diagnostics.
Quality Assurance
We catch issues before the network goes live. Whether it’s a faulty transceiver or a misconfigured device, our factory environment allows for full system burn-in and resolution before a single shipment leaves our facility.
Security & Consistency
Our engineering teams work with your exact configuration needs, ensuring that the network is secure, segmented, and built to spec. Every component is verified, reducing the risk of field errors or inconsistencies.
Multi-Vendor Expertise
Need to integrate equipment from multiple OEMs? LightRiver excels at building multi-vendor networks and testing their interoperability—something many in-house teams or single-vendor labs struggle to achieve at scale.
Reduced On-Site Waste and Complexity
Large-scale network builds can generate dozens—or even hundreds—of pallets of equipment and packaging. By staging everything in our facility, we reduce waste, streamline logistics, and make on-site installation more efficient and cleaner.
Real-World Use Cases
Data Centers & Cloud Providers
In today’s AI-driven economy, data center construction is moving at record pace. Cloud and colocation providers can’t afford long deployment timelines or integration errors. Factory Built Networks allow these companies to light up new facilities faster and with greater confidence—connecting to other data centers and peering points in days, not weeks.
LightRiver is trusted by the world’s largest data centers, hyperscalers, and cloud companies to build high-performance, low-latency networks that scale with demand.
Utilities & Critical Infrastructure
Electric utilities rely on private fiber networks to manage their grid infrastructure, generation facilities and substations. These networks must be ultra-reliable, secure, and fully isolated from the public internet. Our factory-built model ensures mission-critical connectivity is field-ready and rigorously tested before deployment—even in remote areas.
Lab Services for R&D and Testing
Many clients don’t have the facilities to test and verify network designs across devices and platforms. Our labs serve as a trusted resource for concept validation, device compatibility checks, and pre-deployment simulation—especially for organizations building networks at scale.
Trusted by the World’s Most Respected Companies
LightRiver has built a reputation as the go-to partner for mission-critical network builds across multiple sectors. From hyperscale data centers to regulated utility networks, we deliver results through precision, experience and relentless attention to detail.
When you need it done right — and done fast — there’s no substitute for a Factory Built Network from LightRiver. Ready to build smarter? Explore our Factory Built Network® solution or contact us to start your custom deployment journey.