DE-CIX Breaks Another Data World Record: Over 8 Terabits per Second at Frankfurt Internet Exchange

Frankfurt am Main, 12 December 2019: For the second time this year, DE-CIX (German Commercial Internet Exchange) in Frankfurt has hit a new world record. Yesterday evening, data throughput broke through another new barrier with more than 8.1 Terabits per second, increasing the record value of 7.1 Terabits per second from mid-September 2019 by almost one Terabit. DE-CIX in Frankfurt is and continues to be the Internet Exchange with the highest data throughput in the world. In a timeframe of just a few weeks, data traffic at DE-CIX Frankfurt increased by almost 14 percent at peak times.

“This record figure not only underscores our position in the global market, but also that of the FrankfurtRhineMain metropolitan region as one of the most important data hubs in the world.  We are very happy with the development that we have been able to observe for many years now with regard to data throughput and the customer response to it at DE-CIX in Frankfurt. This data record can be explained purely on the basis of the increase in the number of connected networks since the beginning of the year. Here we were able to record an increase of more than 10 percent, which brings us to just under 950 connected networks. An additional factor coming into play is being in the season when Internet users particularly like to stream films or play online. All of these components contribute to such a record,” says Thomas King, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at 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 the world’s leading operator of Internet Exchanges. Started up in 1995, DE-CIX manages over 20 Internet Exchanges globally in Europe, India, the Middle East, Asia, 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 most inexpensive and fastest path.

Statistics on data traffic at DE-CIX in Frankfurt can be found here.

Background information: What is a Terabit of data per second? What does a data throughput of 8 Terabits per second mean?

  • One Terabit per second, Tbit/s or Tbps, is a dimension for the transmission speed of data.
  • It is 10exp3 Gbit/s, 10exp6 Mbit/s, 10exp9 kbit/s or 10exp12 bit/s, i.e. 1,000,000,000,000 bit/s.
  • The next lowest data rates are measured in Gigabits per second (Gbit/s) and Megabits per second (Mbit/s).
  • 8 Terabits per second corresponds to the simultaneous transmission of up to 1.8 million videos in HD quality or a data volume of approx. 1.8 billion A4 pages of text (a stack of paper close to 200 kilometers high).

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About DE-CIX

DE-CIX is a world leader in operating Internet Exchanges. Having started operations in 1995, DE-CIX in Frankfurt am Main is the Internet Exchange (IX) with the world’s highest data throughput at peak times, at over 8 Terabits per second (Tbps). Its technical infrastructure has a total capacity of 48 Terabits.

In total, DE-CIX serves over 1800 network operators, Internet service providers (ISPs), and content providers from more than 100 countries with peering and interconnection services at its more than 20 locations in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and North America. Further information at www.de-cix.net

Press Contact DE-CIX:

Carsten Titt

Head of Global Public Relations

Telephone: +49 (0)69-1730902-130

Email: carsten.titt@de-cix.net