Traffic throughput has doubled since 2020 and increased 15% in 2024 to hit a record high of 68 exabytes.
DE-CIX, one of the world’s leading Internet Exchange (IX) operators, has revealed another record-breaking milestone in the amount of global data traffic being exchanged at its locations in 2024.
More than 3,400 connected networks exchanged over 68 exabytes of data traffic at DE-CIX’s locations around the world, corresponding to an increase of around 15% compared to the previous year: In 2023, this figure stood at 59 exabytes.
Global data traffic has more than doubled in the five years since 2020, when the number was 32 exabytes – 68 exabytes equates to the amount of data that it would take to stream in high definition a football game that lasts for 2 million years.
While UEFA Champions League streaming is traditionally seen as the cause of data traffic records, in 2024 gamers became the new record-breakers.
At exactly 7pm UTC on November 20, in a single second, global data throughput reached a one-off peak of 24.92 terabits per second (Tbit/s), the highest throughput for the year, in parallel to several gaming releases and updates from a range of providers.
Correlation of the timing suggests that the peak was induced by new releases such as S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, as well as Microsoft’s update to its Xbox Cloud Gaming platform, which allows gamers to stream select games from their own library to devices such as TVs, tablets and smartphones.
The record-breaking 68 exabytes of data exchanged through the year, if printed, would be equivalent to a stack of paper 20 times higher than Mount Everest. In the space of one minute, 186.9 terabytes of data flowed over DE-CIX IXs worldwide.
Internet-based applications drive development
The growing use of Internet-based and cloud applications has been driving the development of data traffic at DE-CIX for years. While 32 exabytes of data was exchanged in 2020 and 38 exabytes in 2021, this grew to 48 exabytes in 2022 and then 59 in 2023.
Together with the growth in 2024, this makes 113 percent growth in traffic over DE-CIX exchanges worldwide in the last five years.
The November peak coincided with the latest record at DE-CIX Frankfurt: The traffic exchanged by the close to 1,100 local, regional and global connected networks reached a peak of 18.11 Tbit/s on that day. DE-CIX Frankfurt is Europe’s largest Internet Exchange, with more than 45 exabytes of data throughput in 2024 – an increase of 13% compared to 2023.
In 2025, DE-CIX celebrates 30 years since the establishment of the company and DE-CIX Frankfurt, its first IX.
From video conferencing and streaming services to gaming – there were significant differences in terms of usage over the course of the second half of 2024: Video conferencing saw strong seasonal changes, with growth of up to 30% in the third quarter of 2024, after the summer slow-down. The level reduced slightly during the festive season over the turn of the year. Usage of Video-on-Demand streaming services stayed consistently high throughout the second half of the year, showing the extent to which these services have become the standard for many viewers.
Online gaming, which contributed the largest amount of traffic of the three traffic classes examined, also remained consistently high over Q3 and Q4 2024, with a slight uptake during the festive season.
These highs are reflected at individual DE-CIX locations around the globe.
For example, on a regional level, DE-CIX North America saw in excess of 7000 PB, with DE-CIX New York experiencing over 4348 petabytes (PB) of data flowing over the exchange during the year. It reached a peak of 1.7 Tbit/s, representing growth of 10% in 2024. DE-CIX Dallas experienced 2630 PB with a peak of 1.35 Tbit/s, that is growth of 50% in 2024.
“In this, our 30th anniversary year at DE-CIX, we again see the enormous importance of interconnection for powering daily life for millions of people. Whether it’s for communication, entertainment, learning, health, data-based products and apps, artificial intelligence or the transmission of global sports highlights – the fast and secure connections at DE-CIX Internet Exchanges are essential for our modern way of life,” says Ivo Ivanov, CEO, DE-CIX.
“Our Internet Exchanges not only connect people and communities worldwide but also bring individual companies and entire economies together to do business.”
DE-CIX offers its interconnection services in close to 60 locations in Europe, Africa, North and South America, the Middle East, and Asia.
Accessible from data centers in over 600 cities world-wide, DE-CIX interconnects thousands of network operators (carriers), Internet service providers (ISPs), content providers and enterprise networks from more than 100 countries, and offers peering, cloud and other interconnection services. DE-CIX Frankfurt is the largest IX in Europe and one of the largest Internet Exchanges in the world.
Background: How much is 68 exabytes?
- The transmission speed of data is specified in terabits per second (Tbit/s).
- 1 terabit per second is 10³ Gbit/s, 106 Mbit/s, 109 kbit/s, or 1012 bit/s, or 1,000,000,000,000 bit/s.
- 8 Terabits = 1 Terabyte (TB), 1,000 TB = 1 Petabyte (PB), and 1,000 PB = 1 Exabyte (EB)
- 68 exabytes (EB) is the amount of data that streaming a 2-million-year-long football match in high definition would require.
