Frankfurt am Main, 20 September 2019: Never before has so much data been exchanged per second in an Internet Exchange. The data traffic at DE-CIX (German Commercial Internet Exchange) in Frankfurt went through the roof on Thursday night and set a new world record, at more than 7.1 Terabits per second. The largest amount of data exchanged at DE-CIX at peak times previously had been 6.8 Terabits per second. It was only in December 2017 that the sound barrier of 6 Terabits per second was broken. With the new record, DE-CIX in Frankfurt remains in position No. 1 worldwide as the Internet Exchange with the greatest amount of data exchanged.
“The data throughput at DE-CIX in Frankfurt has far more than doubled since 2014, and will continue to develop fast in the future. In the last year the connected capacity alone increased by more than 35 percent to more than 45 terabits (Tbit) compared to 2017. The continuously growing number of connected devices and technologies, and increasing digitalization act as further growth drivers,” says Harald A. Summa, CEO of DE-CIX.
Generally, the data traffic at Internet Exchanges moves in waves and reflects the daily rhythm of Internet usage, beginning at 6 am and reaching its peak at around 9 in the evening. Seasonal changes – in summer people tend to be online less than in the fall and winter months – can also be registered.
DE-CIX is a worldwide leading operator of Internet Exchanges. Established in 1995, DE-CIX manages 18 Internet Exchanges globally, with locations in Europe, India, the Near East, and the USA.
At the individual locations, Internet service providers, network operators, content delivery networks, and enterprises exchange data traffic on a cost-neutral basis through so-called “peering”, so that the data packets get to the recipient via the fastest and most inexpensive path.
Statistics on data traffic at DE-CIX in Frankfurt can be found here.
Background information: How much is a Terabit of data per second?
- One Terabit per second corresponds to the simultaneous transmission of up to 230,000 videos in HD quality.
- One Terabit corresponds to approx. 230 million A4 pages of text, a stack of paper close to 25 kilometers high.