Frankfurt am Main, 8 September 2020: DE-CIX, the leading global operator of Internet Exchanges (IX), and the Internet companies DOKOM21, TMR and GELSEN-NET, each based in different cities in the German Ruhr region, have founded a new ecosystem for the digital economy that spans city boundaries. In this way, an Internet Exchange for the entire Ruhr region – the ninth-largest metropolitan region in Europe, with a population greater than that of Rome – has been created, which will further improve the quality of the Internet in the region and contribute to the economic growth of the historical German industrial area. The IX, called “Ruhr-CIX powered by DE-CIX”, will be housed in the data centers of DOKOM21, TMR and GELSEN-NET, in the cities of Dortmund, Bochum, and Gelsenkirchen respectively.
The Ruhr region, with 53 cities and a population of more than 5 million, is the largest urban region in Germany: 37 of the Top500 Companies in Germany are based there. Ruhr-CIX reduces the packet run-time between the connected Internet companies and results in a more stable network for applications like cloud computing, VoIP connections, video, gaming, music streaming, and many others. Beyond this, Ruhr-CIX also has the objective of building an improved connection to the important Internet companies like Google, Akamai, Microsoft, Amazon, Netflix, and Facebook.
The new Internet Exchange will be operated by DE-CIX on behalf of the three regional Internet companies DOKOM21, TMR and GELSEN-NET as part of the DE-CIX “Apollon-as-a-Service (AaaS)” program. The DE-CIX AaaS program includes a range of services, such as the provision and installation of the technology, maintenance, and support for marketing and sales. Further examples of the DE-CIX AaaS program include UAE-IX powered by DE-CIX in Dubai and SEECIX powered by DE-CIX in Athens, the latter also having been founded in 2020.
“With Ruhr-CIX, we make a contribution to bringing the densely-populated historical Ruhr region into the digital age, offering it even greater sovereignty and an essential digital importance. Improved Internet quality – resulting alone from the localized distribution of the data – will be complemented by the improved stability and flexibility of the regional infrastructure. Connected companies will enjoy a noticeable improvement in their connection quality, meaning that Ruhr-CIX will contribute to their economic success. Through the direct connection to DE-CIX, they also become a part of a global digital ecosystem including important international players,” Harald A. Summa, CEO of DE-CIX, emphasizes.
DE-CIX operating Internet Exchanges worldwide for the last 25 years
For the last 25 years, DE-CIX has been successfully operating Internet Exchanges in metropolitan regions worldwide, including New York, Madrid, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Dubai and Mumbai. DE-CIX is highly regarded for its very stable and reliable global network infrastructure. Ruhr-CIX will be realized with the same high availability and security requirements as every other of the more than 20 DE-CIX locations around the world. “Through a cooperation with DE-CIX, our partners achieve optimal interconnection and improved marketing towards national and international content providers, cloud providers and Internet service providers, as well as towards companies that are active both nationally and internationally, and systems integrators that are based outside of the Ruhr region,” Summa adds.