{"id":45869,"date":"2024-10-28T15:04:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-28T14:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/frankfurt-main-finance.com\/?p=45869"},"modified":"2024-11-27T15:05:19","modified_gmt":"2024-11-27T14:05:19","slug":"latency-is-the-new-global-currency-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/frankfurt-main-finance.com\/en\/latency-is-the-new-global-currency-2\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cLatency is the new global currency\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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DE-CIX \u2014 pronounced De:kiks \u2014 recorded a new record on its platform in Frankfurt at around 9 p.m. on 1 October 2024: 17.65 terabits of data per second \u2018flowed\u2019 through the DE-CIX internet node in Frankfurt at the same time as the Champions League broadcast on Amazon Prime Video. This corresponds to the equivalent of around 6 million simultaneously streamed videos in HD quality, or approximately 90 million full bathtubs if each bit were equivalent to one millilitre of water.
As impressive as this peak value is, the current average data throughput at the internet node in Frankfurt is also remarkable at just under 13 terabits per second, i.e. over 4 million videos in HD quality. Five years ago, at the end of September 2019, the average was still around 7 terabits; an increase of over 80% in just 5 years.
Ivo Ivanov, who has been with DE-CIX since 2007 and CEO since 2022, emphasises the importance of a digital ecosystem: \u201cWell-functioning access to digital infrastructure not only provides convenience for our private lives and economic success, but is also crucial for the development of a city, region, or nation. As the core of digital ecosystems, internet hubs are the key to digital development and future life.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Start 30 years ago with 2 megabits<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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It all began in 1995 in a former telegram post office in Frankfurt with a connection of 2 megabits per second data throughput. Three German Internet service providers who no longer wanted to exchange data via the USA initiated the founding of DE-CIX, not as a separate company, but as a company under the umbrella of eco \u2014 Association of the Internet Industry e. V. The association is still the sole owner of DE-CIX today.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Peak values for data throughput at the DE-CIX Internet exchange in Frankfurt from 1995 to 2025.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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For Ivo Ivanov, it was a visionary step: \u201cWe benefit from the knowledge and needs of more than 1100 member companies of one of the largest associations in the Internet industry in Europe. This ensures technical excellence and at the same time gives us independence. Our basic principle is neutrality towards data centres and network operators.\u201d DE-CIX rents its facilities in various data centres and uses the infrastructure of third parties, so-called carriers, for example by renting fibre optic cables.
Why Frankfurt? Ivanov answers: \u201cFrankfurt is conveniently located in the centre of Germany and Europe, so the effort required to connect was similar for all parties involved.\u201d He continues: \u201cIn addition, visionaries with an idea for the future of the Internet were active in Frankfurt at the time. Data centres were built and \u2014 in contrast to other municipalities \u2014 the city opened up the public space and allowed numerous providers to lay fibre optic cables, among other things. This created a digital ecosystem in Frankfurt.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Steps to Eastern Europe, Dubai and New York<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Three milestones followed: between 2006 and 2008, the American tech giants reached Frankfurt with their lines from overseas. DE-CIX convinced providers from Eastern Europe to quickly create access to data from the USA via their own lines to Frankfurt. \u2018West meets East\u2019 was the theme at the time.
In 2010, DE-CIX won the contract from the regulatory authority in the United Arab Emirates for a study on the development of an Internet platform, because at that time more than 90% of local data was not exchanged in Dubai, but via detours in Europe, Asia or America. Ivanov remembers. \u201cThe authorities did not opt for a global management consultancy, but chose us because of our experience in Frankfurt. The Frankfurt model thus became a global success.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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DE-CIX - the largest network operator and data centre-neutral interconnection ecosystem in the world.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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In 2012, DE-CIX was commissioned to set up its own platform in Dubai following the study. The move to New York even followed in 2014. \u201cThe market there was highly fragmented because the networks themselves were operated by the data centres and were therefore not independent.\u201d Since 2014, DE-CIX has been \u201cthe largest independent provider of internet exchanges in New York and in the top 5 in the USA\u201d, according to the CEO of DE-CIX.
Today, DE-CIX is the largest independent interconnection ecosystem in the world, represented in around 60 metropolitan regions worldwide. Over 3600 other networks have now connected to DE-CIX. DE-CIX has a capacity of more than 160 terabits and uses over 1000 data centres, including around 50 facilities in the Rhine-Main region alone.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The competition for milliseconds<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Ivanov, who is counted among the world’s 100 most important experts in the field of telecommunications, wants DE-CIX to help ensure that people in as many regions of the world as possible \u2014 whether in deserts or high mountains \u2014 have affordable access to digital infrastructure. Small local data centres connected to the global network via fibre optics or satellite are all that is needed. \u201cTelephone booths into which DE-CIX places a pizza box with equipment are sufficient,\u201d Ivanov draws a figurative comparison.
Affordability is essentially a secondary issue, as the throughput of 1 terabit of data cost almost 100% more in 2012 than in 2022. The CEO explains: \u201cThe unique decline is due to the dramatic increase in volume. There was no ruinous competition between providers. The market has regulated itself.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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DE-CIX patch panel in a data centre.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Much more important on a global scale is the competition for milliseconds. \u201cLatency times are the new global currency,\u201d emphasises Ivanov. Data transmission in near real time makes online gaming more powerful and therefore more attractive for private individuals. However, milliseconds are crucial in other areas: Low latency is simply indispensable for autonomous driving, robotics and artificial intelligence. The benchmark is the reaction time of the human brain \u2014 20 milliseconds for haptic stimuli, 13 milliseconds for visual perceptions and 1 millisecond for hearing.
In the digital world, a latency time of 1 millisecond means that the data centre must be a maximum of 80 to 100 km away from the user. This in turn requires additional data centres. With regard to autonomous driving, Ivanov makes the why clear. \u201cThe car will not come to the data centre, but the data centre must come to the car.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u201cControl over the data journey\u201d<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The concept of closed user groups within the internet is also becoming increasingly important. The automotive, logistics, general mobility and healthcare sectors, not to mention the financial industry, are already major users of these formats. Effortless implementation of innovations, further business growth, stable performance at all times, extremely high security, reduced complexity and strict adherence to compliance requirements in these industries depend crucially on whether companies have \u201ccontrol over the data journey at all times\u201d.
These customers therefore rent closed networks from DE-CIX, creating a \u201cprivate\u201d Internet on which only their own files are transmitted. Interfaces to other networks are only opened in order to exchange data with previously defined business partners.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The beginning of a new evolutionary stage<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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For the CEO of DE-CIX, Ivo Ivanovic, the digital world is on the verge of a new evolutionary stage \u2014 and he is optimistic about the future of DE-CIX. \u201cNo cloud-based application, no artificial intelligence, can do without an adequate digital infrastructure. To optimise supply, this infrastructure must be as local as possible and as globally integrated as necessary.\u201d<\/p>

Further information: www.de-cix.net<\/a><\/p>

Pictures: DE-CIX<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLinkedIn\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With DE-CIX, Frankfurt is home to the world’s leading operator of internet exchanges. Frankfurt Main Finance spoke to the CEO of DE-CIX, Ivo Ivanov, about Frankfurt’s role in the company’s global success, latency times as a new global currency, closed user groups to control the data journey and a digital ecosystem available everywhere through \u2018pizza boxes in phone boxes\u2019.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":45870,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"template-fullwidth.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[106,105],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-financial-centre","category-top-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-10 17:57:18","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/frankfurt-main-finance.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/frankfurt-main-finance.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/frankfurt-main-finance.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frankfurt-main-finance.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frankfurt-main-finance.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45869"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/frankfurt-main-finance.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45878,"href":"https:\/\/frankfurt-main-finance.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45869\/revisions\/45878"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frankfurt-main-finance.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/frankfurt-main-finance.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frankfurt-main-finance.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frankfurt-main-finance.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}