Upgrades at AMS-IX result in 85% power reduction

Last year, AMS-IX has chosen Juniper as its new switch supplier and, since then, has been preparing for a technology refresh of the platform. The AM5 datacenter at Equinix is the first of the sixteen Internet Exchange locations in the Netherlands where equipment has been replaced. Nikhef/ DRT AMS9, Global Switch and the DRT datatower are scheduled for upgrades later this year.

The introduction of new technology came with significant performance improvement. After the migration, the data center location at Equinix has more port capacity, supports the 100G LR-1 standard, and supports 400G ports. Moreover, the power consumption of the customer facing switches at Equinix AM5 has been significantly reduced, from 52.8 kilowatts to 8.2 kilowatts, representing an 85% decrease.

The MLX switches at Equinix AM5, which were replaced, had been in operation for about twelve years. It is expected that the new Juniper switches will have a similar lifespan.

AMS-IX plans to equip all its locations with measuring equipment to determine the exact power consumption of each location. Equinix AM5 is the first location where this has been implemented.