AMS-IX

The Amsterdam Internet Exchange, or also known as AMS-IX, is an internet exchange point based in Amsterdam. The association is operating various interconnection platforms worldwide. The non-profit association’s leading platform located in Amsterdam plays a crucial role at the core of the internet for over two decades and it is also one of the largest hubs in the world. AMS-IX aims to enable internet service providers, telecom companies, and cloud providers that their traffic is routed in an efficient, fast, secure, stable, and cost-effective way.

AMS-IX’s story began in Amsterdam in 1994. In February of 1994, the company formed the first layer-2 shared infrastructure between academic organizations and Amsterdam Science Park to exchange traffic. Only a few years late, in 1997, other service providers also connected and formed the AMS-IX. The association was founded by twenty service providers and carriers in 1997.

In 1998, the association announced the implementation of Multicast VLAN and the first IPv6 tests. A few years later in 2004, AMS-IX became the first internet exchange to deploy photonic switches. In 2009, AMS-IX introduced its customer portal, My-AMS-IX, and migrated the Amsterdam platform to an MPLS/VPLS topology.

In 2011, the association connected396 users on 684 ports and announced that the all-time peak of incoming traffic was 1.513 Tbit/s and of outgoing traffic was 1.512 Tbit/s same year, which was almost the 100% increase year-over-year. In 2012, the association announced the launch of AMS-IX Hong Kong, in collaboration with HGC and in 2013, CAR-IX became AMS-IX Caribbean.

AMS-IX also opened AMS-IX Bay Area and AMS-IX Chicago in 2014. In 2016, AMS-IX announced a new peak internet traffic, which was 5 Tbit/s. The association also collaborated with Sify for the launch of AMS-IX India. In 2020, the association also reached new record-breaking peak traffic of over 9 Terabits per second.