DE-CIX records 5 Tbps in peak traffic at Frankfurt Internet exchange

Internet exchange services provider DE-CIX reports that its flagship Frankfurt Internet exchange hit an active traffic peak of 5 Tbps on December 8, 2015. The traffic flow was a new record for the exchange, which topped 4 Tbps the previous April (see "DE-CIX touts 4-Tbps traffic peak at Frankfurt Internet exchange").

Besides having the requisite number of customers, DE-CIX attributes the 5-Tbps benchmark to the rapid worldwide growth in data demand, driven predominantly by video and Internet-enabled mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.

"We are surprised ourselves how strongly our customer capacities have ramped up this year and how much the data traffic on our Internet exchange in Frankfurt has grown," stated Harald A. Summa, DE-CIX CEO, via a press release issued shortly after the highpoint was reached. "In total, the capacity booked by our customers at DE-CIX Frankfurt has increased by 40.3%, from 12.9 terabit at the beginning of the year to 18.1 terabit today. So far [in 2015], we've also booked more than fifty 100GbE connections – that is double the number we'd expected for the entire year. Additionally, through the end of the year, we will have connected more than approximately 100 new networks."

DE-CIX points out that the Frankfurt Internet exchange has a capacity of 48 Tbps, so it should be able to accommodate the current growth curve for some time to come.

In addition to the Frankfurt facility, DE-CIX operates a number of exchanges around the world. Locations include Hamburg, Munich, New York, and Dubai, which in 2015 were joined by Dallas, Dusseldorf, Istanbul, Marseille, and Palermo (see, for example, "DE-CIX targets Instanbul for Internet exchange" and "TI Sparkle, DE-CIX establish neutral Internet exchange in Palermo").

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