30 years of DE-CIX:
How Frankfurt became the heart of the European Internet
Thirty years ago, the Internet in Germany had more in common with a labyrinth: data sent from Hamburg to Munich often took a detour via the USA – an absurd situation that wasted both time and resources. But in 1995, a few visionaries in Frankfurt decided to join the dots on the map: they founded DE-CIX, Germany's first Internet Exchange. "We wanted to create a place that would efficiently organize data traffic within Germany," recalls founding member Arnold Nipper. From the very beginning, three Internet service providers – MAZ, EUnet and XLink – were behind the idea. They recognized early on that data in Germany needed efficient – and shorter – pathways. The German Commercial Internet Exchange (DE-CIX for short) thus became the pragmatic solution to a growing problem. What began as a regional project became a national milestone. DE-CIX put an end to unnecessary detours and ensured faster and more reliable data traffic. Over the following three decades, this idea not only developed into an international hub for data flows, but also into one of the largest and most high-performance Internet Exchanges in the world. Today, DE-CIX is an example of how a pragmatic vision can become a technical success story that has significantly shaped the Internet as we know it.
Why Frankfurt
The choice of Frankfurt as a location was no coincidence. At the time, the city was an established financial center and offered superior telecommunications infrastructure. Fiber optic lines could already be rented there in the early 1990s – a novelty at the time in Germany. "Frankfurt already had the necessary network structures back then and was a central meeting point for the major carriers," explains Prof. Michael Rotert, one of DE-CIX's first customers. At the same time, Frankfurt was an important connection point for international data lines that linked European data traffic with other continents. These conditions made the city the ideal location for the emerging Internet Exchange. The banking landscape and its communication requirements also played an important role. "Financial centers need bad news faster than good news – in order to react accordingly," comments Arnold Nipper on the choice of location.
Harald Summa, CEO of DE-CIX from 1996 to 2022, member of the Supervisory Board of DE-CIX Group AG
"The next ten years will be just as transformative as the first steps of the Internet."
The beginnings: combining a pioneering spirit with pragmatism
The early years of DE-CIX were characterized by improvised structures and a high level of commitment.The first location was an old post office building in Frankfurt's Gutleut district. "It was a locked room in a dark corridor – not particularly professional," reports Harald Summa, co-founder of DE-CIX. Despite these modest conditions, the exchange quickly established itself as a central hub for nationwide data exchange. The first customers also had to be pragmatic. Rotert remembers: "A colleague brought a switch to Frankfurt in the trunk of his car to set up the first interconnection." The early years were characterized by a pioneering spirit. This also included grassroots democratic discussions, which were not always easy. Nevertheless, DE-CIX succeeded in establishing itself as a platform that could handle data traffic efficiently and reliably.
Technological challenges and milestones
With the rise of the Internet, the demands on DE-CIX also grew. The move to modern, carrier-neutral data centers at the end of the 1990s marked an important milestone. Cooperation with partners such as Interxion (now Digital Realty) enabled redundant locations and created the basis for a scalable infrastructure. "The introduction of redundancy and the distribution across multiple locations were crucial for our reliability," emphasizes Nipper. Another key issue was selecting the right technology. The operators had to keep finding new ways to cope with the increasing data volumes. After several changes, DE-CIX found a reliable partner for its high-end hardware in Nokia. "The demands on throughput and reliability were enormous," says Nipper. These technological advances contributed to DE-CIX Frankfurt becoming one of the most important Internet Exchanges in the world today.
The internationalization of DE-CIX
By 2010, further DE-CIX Internet Exchanges had been opened in Munich, Dusseldorf and Hamburg, before the internationalization of DE-CIX began at the start of the new decade. At this time, the focus was particularly on data exchange between East and West. "This step significantly boosted our growth and established Frankfurt as an Internet Exchange at the heart of Europe," explains Nipper. A strategic analysis for the Emirates also played an important role. This was to serve DE-CIX as a blueprint for its own internationalization strategy: UAE-IX powered by DE-CIX, the first Internet Exchange that DE-CIX built and operated outside of Germany, went live in Dubai in 2012. Today, DE-CIX Frankfurt is not only a central hub in Germany, but also a synonym worldwide for reliable and high-performance Internet infrastructure. "Without DE-CIX, many things would not work in Germany," summarizes Rotert.
Prof. Michael Rotert, Honorary President of eco – Association of the Internet Industry
"I would like to congratulate DE-CIX on its 30th birthday. Life really begins at 30."
Influence on industry and business
The importance of DE-CIX extends far beyond Germany. It has not only revolutionized digital infrastructure, but also set new standards in the industry. Rotert emphasizes how essential the Internet Exchange was for doing business: "It enabled faster and more secure data traffic within Germany.” Thanks to DE-CIX, Frankfurt has developed into a global center for Internet and data center infrastructure. Today, the region has over 130 data centers and is considered one of the largest concentrations of such facilities in the world. This success would have been inconceivable without DE-CIX. "The entire East End in Frankfurt only came into being because we took DE-CIX there," explains Summa.
Key role for the Internet industry
DE-CIX, as an important part of the German and international IT and infrastructure sector, will continue to face challenges in the future. The rollout of fiber optic infrastructure, the integration of AI applications, and securing the energy supply are just some of the issues that infrastructure operators will be dealing with. New regions, such as the German Rhenish mining district, could also gain in importance. "The next ten years will be just as transformative as the first steps of the Internet," predicts Summa. With an impressive growth rate and its global expansion, DE-CIX is ideally equipped to play a key role in the Internet economy in the coming decades.