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DE-CIX (the Deutsche Commercial Internet Exchange) in Frankfurt set a new world record for data throughput on Tuesday evening this week. At more than 9.1 Terabits per second, a new sound barrier has been broken.

Never before has so much data been exchanged at peak times at an Internet Exchange. It was only in December 2019 that DE-CIX in Frankfurt hit the 8 Terabits-per-second mark, and it has now increased its data throughput by more than 12 percent in just a couple of months. DE-CIX in Frankfurt therefore is, and will remain, the Internet Exchange with the most data throughput worldwide.

“This record confirms that DE-CIX in Frankfurt, and with it the metropolitan region Frankfurt Main, is one of the most important data hubs in the world. Added to this is the fact that as a result of the season, as well as the exceptional situation that people are currently experiencing with the COVID-19 virus, Internet use is playing an ever-greater role. Whether it’s for exchanging information, streaming films, or playing online games. Guaranteeing a stable and secure Internet infrastructure – regardless of how challenging the times are – is one of our highest priorities,” Dr. Thomas King, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of DE-CIX, assesses the new world record.

Generally, the data traffic at Internet Exchanges moves in waves and reflects the daily rhythm of Internet usage, beginning at 6am 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.

Find statistics on data traffic at DE-CIX in Frankfurt here.

Background information: What is a Terabit of data per second? What does a data throughput of 9 Terabits per second mean?

• One Terabit per second, Tbit/s or Tbps, is a dimension for the transmission speed of data.
• It is 103 Gbit/s, 106 Mbit/s, 109 Kbit/s or 1012 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).
• 9 Terabits per second corresponds to the simultaneous transmission of up to 2 million videos in HD quality or a data volume of more than 2 billion A4 pages of text (a stack of paper close to 200 kilometers high).

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