Wong Weng Yew, Founder and Managing Director, Open DC Sdn Bhd
Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), 22 June 2022 - DE-CIX, the world’s leading operator of Internet Exchanges (IXs), has today released their Annual Report for the financial year 2021, confirming continued strong growth in global revenues and data exchange in the second year of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Global revenues of all company parts continued to grow, reaching 48.7 million euros, an increase of 5.2 million euros (up 12%) compared to 2020. With more than 38 exabytes of data throughput globally, DE-CIX experienced a 20% increase in traffic, in line with the growth in connected networks, which ended the year at a total of close to 2,500 worldwide.
Connected capacity across the global DE-CIX interconnection fabric increased by more than 30% to 96.2 Terabits (Tbits) in 2021, reflecting the strong demand for interconnection services and more bandwidth. Direct connectivity to the cloud via the DE-CIX Cloud Exchange tripled during 2021. Much of this was booked via DE-CIX’s self-service customer portal, which was implemented in 2021 as part of the company’s drive towards the automation of interconnection. On a geographical level, four new Internet Exchanges were taken into operation, these being two DE-CIX owned and operated IXs, DE-CIX Richmond and DE-CIX Barcelona, and two DE-CIX as a Service locations set up and operated for partners: “Ruhr-CIX powered by DE-CIX” in Germany and “Borneo-IX powered by DE-CIX” in Southeast Asia.
After the formation of DE-CIX Malaysia and DE-CIX Singapore in 2020, the infrastructure for the DE-CIX locations in Southeast Asia was successfully migrated to the award-winning DE-CIX Apollon interconnection platform in 2021, opening up a gateway for a variety of interconnection services, such as peering and cloud storage. The DE-CIX Apollon platform was created to manage the continuous and colossal increase in customers and data traffic on DE-CIX's interconnection platforms. To effectively be ahead of substantial traffic growth, DE-CIX created the world's largest and most advanced Ethernet-based platform.
Additionally, in February 2021, Unified National Networks (UNN), the national network infrastructure operator of Brunei, and DE-CIX announced a strategic partnership to establish an Internet Exchange on Borneo Island.
“Looking back on the second year of the pandemic, we see a year during which the world began to stabilize into the “new normal." The meteoric growth in data traffic experienced during the last two years is characteristic of the transformation in working and living that we have experienced as we have moved progressively into the digital world. The insatiable demand for digital applications and data-driven services is the next stage in a continuum – a steady process of digitalization, of optimization of workflows, of the expansion of methods of communication and entertainment, and the increasingly fine-grained interconnection of the planet. At DE-CIX, we are striving for excellence in interconnection—to meet the demands and expectations of networks, enterprises, and end users, and to support the rollout of high-speed connectivity wherever on the planet it is needed,” comments CEO Harald A. Summa.
From North America to Europe, there is strong growth in digital hubs and at the edge.
2021 was again a year of milestones for DE-CIX North America, the largest carrier and data center neutral interconnection ecosystem on the North American continent. For the first time in DE-CIX history, New York, the leading neutral IX provider in the New York/New Jersey market, reached more than 260 connected networks during the year and exceeded 1 Tbps in peak traffic for the first time in December 2021, becoming only the second DE-CIX IX to cross the 1 Tbit mark. Together, DE-CIX Chicago, which celebrated one year of operation in late 2021, and DE-CIX Richmond, which went into operation in December 2021, brought close to 50 further networks online in the North American ecosystem.
For the DE-CIX Southern European region, accumulated connected capacity rose by close to 40% to 6.5 Tbits, and the number of connected networks by 17% to 450. DE-CIX Madrid, the heart of the largest neutral interconnection ecosystem in Southern Europe, celebrated its 5th birthday with growth of 23% in connected capacity and an increase to 225 connected networks. Another highlight of the year was the launch of DE-CIX Barcelona, which became ready for service in early October 2021, with three premium-enabled sites and 30+ networks already connected on day 1.
In 2021, the next step was taken by setting up the DE-CIX Global Interconnection Academy, in partnership with the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) in Barcelona. The online training program will commence in Q4 2022 and is aimed at both professionals and students. The creation of the DE-CIX Interconnection Academy seeks to provide a global standard certificate of excellence for interconnection experts. In Germany, the historical home market of DE-CIX, connected networks at the DE-CIX flagship IX in Frankfurt amounted to close to 1100 at the end of the year, while connected capacity rose by 12% in 2021.
From Europe to Southeast Asia – massive demand for interconnection is reflected in all DE-CIX regions.
In November 2021, DE-CIX announced its expansion to the Nordics, with new DE-CIX platforms to be established in Norway, Denmark, and Finland. DE-CIX’s expansion to the Nordics will serve the regional connectivity needs, boosted by new transatlantic and intercontinental submarine cables bridging the Nordics with the rest of North America and Asia.
In its sixth year of operations, DE-CIX Istanbul has grown to be an important interconnection gateway between the Middle East and Europe. In 2021, demand for greater capacity was documented in the increase of close to 170% in 100GE ports and more than 90% in connected customer bandwidth, which grew to over 2 terabits. At the same time, at the UAE-IX powered by DE-CIX in Dubai (UAE), the leading carrier and data center neutral Internet Exchange in the GCC, the number of 100GE ports grew by 50%, resulting in an accumulated connected customer capacity of close to 2 terabits, an increase of almost 40%.
DE-CIX India’s carrier and data center neutral IXs in the cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Chennai enjoyed accumulated growth in connected networks of over 60%, rising to 479 in total, with 100GE ports nearly tripling across locations. The overall connected customer capacity increased by almost 160%, to almost 7 terabits. DE-CIX Mumbai, the largest Internet Exchange in the entire APAC region according to PeeringDB, experienced peak traffic on the verge of reaching the 1 Tbps mark, while almost 40% growth in connected networks this resulted in a total of 389.
The DE-CIX Asia platform, a first-of-its-kind distributed Internet Exchange in Southeast Asia, has a footprint covering Singapore, the Johor Bahru and Kuala Lumpur metropolitan markets. The new DE-CIX as a Service location in Brunei, “Borneo-IX powered by DE-CIX”, established in 2021, is based at the Tungku cable landing station in Bandar Seri Begawan, serving customers across the island, including Brunei, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Fifty-four networks from across the region were connected to the DE-CIX Asia platform in 2021.
The Internet of the future will be dependent on globally distributed interconnected infrastructure.
“Today, more than ever before, all areas of business and private life rely heavily on digital applications." There is no doubt that, in the future, the demands being made on digital infrastructure will intensify. The Internet of the future – a metaverse enabled by AI, VR, AR, and all manner of innovations in the realm of sensory perception, remote control, and real-time virtual experience – promises a wealth of opportunities to do business, be entertained, be cared for and educated, and be connected. To achieve this vision, digital infrastructure providers need to build a densely and globally distributed interconnected infrastructure, while at the same time offering an increasing array of specialized and customized interconnection services to meet the demands of businesses across all sectors. “At DE-CIX, we are already working on our contribution towards this vision of a global digital future,” explains Ivo Ivanov, CEO of DE-CIX International.
The full DE-CIX Annual Report 2021 can be downloaded here (in English only).
