AMS-IX breaks through 9 Tbps barrier

Internet traffic over AMS-IX, a leading interconnection platform, broke through the 9 Terabits per second (Tbps) barrier on 1 November around 7.30 PM. The peak traffic is a new all-time record for AMS-IX.

Tuesday, 3rd November 2020 Posted 3 years ago in by Phil Alsop

The new peak traffic is most likely a result of the growth of the Amsterdam platform. During the last couple of months, a lot of networks have been upgrading their port capacity to handle their traffic growth. The cold, rainy autumn weather is most probably also a factor since people stay indoors when the weather worsens. From the comfort of their homes, people tend to use more Internet services like video games or video streaming.

The lockdown and containment measures of European governments also play a role. A lot of countries have restrictions like an evening clock, closed restaurants and cancelled events, which contributes to people staying at home. Over 875 networks are connected to the Amsterdam interconnection hub, 75% of them are of European origin.

"This peak underlines the critical role AMS-IX has as digital mainport for Internet traffic across the globe," says AMS-IX CEO Peter van Burgel. "We saw tremendous growth in Internet traffic last year. In December last year, we reached a peak traffic of 7 Terabits per second, and in less than a year we've topped this with 2 terabits more. We live in uncertain times, but you can be sure of one thing: Internet traffic is always growing."