Anniversary of the world's largest Internet exchange: DE-CIX turns 30
30 years ago, the world's largest Internet exchange DE-CIX was established in Frankfurt. Initially, it worked with 2-megabit lines.
DE-CIX, the world's largest Internet exchange, is based in Frankfurt.
(Image: dpa, Boris Roessler/dpa)
DE-CIX began operations in Frankfurt in 1995 and is now the world's largest Internet exchange in terms of data throughput. On June 26, its operator of the same name celebrates the thirtieth anniversary of the peering node. In the beginning, DE-CIX Frankfurt connected the Internet service providers EUnet from Dortmund, MAZ from Hamburg and NTG/XLink from Karlsruhe with each other.
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Data throughput via DE-CIX Frankfurt continues to grow steadily and has roughly doubled in the last five years. On November 20, 2024, it reached a new peak value of 18.11 terabits per second, which was mainly due to gamers. In addition to the node in Frankfurt, DE-CIX operates numerous others, for example in New York, Madrid and Mumbai.
Without detours
(Image:Â Holger Bleich / c't)
The Internet consists of many networks that exchange data with each other. Before DE-CIX, data from German networks usually had to take a detour via the USA – Country of origin of the Internet –, which led to performance losses.
DE-CIX began in the building of an old telegraph office in Frankfurt. The DE-CIX project has been backed almost from the outset by the Association of the Internet Industry eco –, short for "electronic commerce", which was founded on June 26, 1995.
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