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The record-breaking 68 exabytes of data exchanged through the year , if printed , would be equivalent to a stack of paper 20 times higher than Mount Everest . In the space of one minute , 186.9 terabytes of data flowed over DE-CIX IXs worldwide .
Internet-based applications drive development
The growing use of Internet-based and cloud applications has been driving the development of data traffic at DE-CIX for years . While 32 exabytes of data was exchanged in 2020 and 38 exabytes in 2021 , this grew to 48 exabytes in 2022 and then 59 in 2023 .
Together with the growth in 2024 , this makes 113 percent growth in traffic over DE-CIX exchanges worldwide in the last five years .
The November peak coincided with the latest record at DE-CIX Frankfurt : The traffic exchanged by the close to 1,100 local , regional and global connected networks reached a peak of 18.11 Tbit / s on that day . DE-CIX Frankfurt is Europe ' s largest Internet Exchange , with more than 45 exabytes of data throughput in 2024 – an increase of 13 % compared to 2023 .
Background : How much is 68 exabytes ?
• The transmission speed of data is specified in terabits per second ( Tbit / s ).
• 1 terabit per second is 10 ³ Gbit / s , 106 Mbit / s , 109 kbit / s , or 1012 bit / s , or 1,000,000,000,000 bit / s .
• 8 Terabits = 1 Terabyte ( TB ), 1,000 TB = 1 Petabyte ( PB ), and 1,000 PB = 1 Exabyte ( EB )
• 68 exabytes ( EB ) is the amount of data that streaming a 2-million-year-long football match in high definition would require .
In 2025 , DE-CIX celebrates 30 years since the establishment of the company and DE-CIX Frankfurt , its first IX .
2024 . DE-CIX Dallas experienced 2630 PB with a peak of 1.35 Tbit / s , that is growth of 50 % in 2024 .
From video conferencing and streaming services to gaming – there were significant differences in terms of usage over the course of the second half of 2024 : Video conferencing saw strong seasonal changes , with growth of up to 30 % in the third quarter of 2024 , after the summer slow-down . The level reduced slightly during the festive season over the turn of the year . Usage of Video-on-Demand streaming services stayed consistently high throughout the second half of the year , showing the extent to which these services have become the standard for many viewers .
Online gaming , which contributed the largest amount of traffic of the three traffic classes examined , also remained consistently high over Q3 and Q4 2024 , with a slight uptake during the festive season .
These highs are reflected at individual DE-CIX locations around the globe .
For example , on a regional level , DE-CIX North America saw in excess of 7000 PB , with DE-CIX New York experiencing over 4348 petabytes ( PB ) of data flowing over the exchange during the year . It reached a peak of 1.7 Tbit / s , representing growth of 10 % in
“ In this , our 30th anniversary year at DE-CIX , we again see the enormous importance of interconnection for powering daily life for millions of people . Whether it ’ s for communication , entertainment , learning , health , data-based products and apps , artificial intelligence or the transmission of global sports highlights – the fast and secure connections at DE-CIX Internet Exchanges are essential for our modern way of life ,” says Ivo Ivanov , CEO , DE-CIX .
“ Our Internet Exchanges not only connect people and communities worldwide but also bring individual companies and entire economies together to do business .”
DE-CIX offers its interconnection services in close to 60 locations in Europe , Africa , North and South America , the Middle East , and Asia . Accessible from data centers in over 600 cities worldwide , DE-CIX interconnects thousands of network operators ( carriers ), Internet service providers ( ISPs ), content providers and enterprise networks from more than 100 countries , and offers peering , cloud and other interconnection services . DE-CIX Frankfurt is the largest IX in Europe and one of the largest Internet Exchanges in the world . p
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