Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX) is blowing out thirty candles today. In that time, the internet node grew to become one of the largest nodes in the world. Its services are used by Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft, among others.
AMS-IX came into existence on Feb. 1, 1994. The organization enables connections between the networks of streaming services, internet providers and cloud providers. In thirty years, internet traffic has exploded. AMS-IX has adapted well to that enormous growth and continues to play a key role in global connectivity today.
“At AMS-IX, we witnessed incredible milestones, from the implementation of the first IXP with photonic cross-connect (PXC) devices to the introduction of 10 GE ports in the early 2000s,” the company posted on LinkedIn. To celebrate the occasion, it also shared a video looking back at key events in AMS-IX’s history.
International interest
This is also good for strengthening the Netherlands’ digital world position. After all, AMS-IX’s services are largely used by foreign and international players. These companies like to be close to the action and thus quickly end up in Amsterdam when expanding abroad.
AMS-IX itself also has a solid portion of experience in terms of expansion. The organization spread its expertise to several continents. A total of fourteen of the organization’s internet nodes run worldwide, including in Southeast Asia, Africa and the US.
Expanding to the cloud
During the festive year, it looks like AMS-IX will be looking into new opportunities to expand further. Together with four other parties, the start for OCOFED is being made earlier this year. This project focusses on building a European cloud to reduce dependence on American cloud players.
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Position of the Netherlands under pressure
Despite AMS-IX’s importance for the position of the Netherlands, the organization is receiving headwinds mainly from political quarters. For example, at the end of 2023, the City of Amsterdam announced a halt to the construction of new data centres. This a huge setback now that data centres are just gaining extra relevance with the rise of AI.
AMS-IX has played an important role for foreign cloud providers for 30 years. International companies will have to go to other European countries with their plans for new data centres, which will be needed in the future.
The halt is not a major concern for AMS-IX. It can continue to do its job just fine. Peter van Burgel, CEO of AMS-IX, thinks it can continue to do so for many decades to come by always responding to the latest developments. “I am very proud that we work every day to advance internet connectivity anywhere in the world. Based on our mission to create a better society through a better internet, we remain committed to energy-efficient solutions to make the internet more secure, give users more control over their own data and deploy new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence responsibly.”