Over 18% growth of Internet data volume in 2021 for AMS-IX

AMS-IX is one of the largest hubs for Internet traffic in the world. Over 880 networks are connected to the platform, enabling networks to cost-effectively exchange large volumes of Internet traffic there. The traffic patterns on the exchange give a good indication on the Internet use of users.

In 2021, AMS-IX exchanged 18% more data than in 2020, which was comparable to the growth of 17% in 2019. In the ‘Corona year’ 2020 the amount of exchanged data grew with 35%. The growth in 2021 seems to come mainly from the use of new and more Internet services, such as storage in the cloud, games and streaming services, and less from changing behaviour of user during the pandemic. In November, AMS-IX reached a new milestone of 10 Terabit/s in Amsterdam. The number of connected networks remained the same with a little more than 880 connected networks.

The traffic patterns on the Global Roaming Exchange also showed that the traffic is back to pre-pandemic levels. The Global Roaming Exchange (GRX) is a platform that enables the exchange of global roaming data between networks. Global roaming data is generated by users who want to use mobile Internet in a foreign country. In 2020, and at the start of 2021, traffic on the GRX was very low due to all the travel restrictions. But during 2021, the traffic went up significantly with 80% and even reached a peak of 205.9 GBps in August.

The influence of the pandemic was also less felt at the other Internet Exchanges that AMS-IX manages. The exchanges in Manama (436 GBps), Mumbai (92 GBps) and Hong Kong (84 GBps) reached new traffic peaks in 2021. The traffic increase in Manama was most significant, peak traffic for Manama in 2020 was 208 GBps. MN-IX is still a relatively new exchange and is currently the fastest growing Internet Exchange in the Middle East.

“The growth of Internet traffic in 2021 comes from the ongoing digitalisation of society. People continue to click, swipe, app, game and stream driving the Internet to continue to grow with 20% on a yearly basis. We continue to invest in optimising the platform to facilitate this traffic growth.”