Data traffic at the Frankfurt-based global DE-CIX Internet Exchanges surged in 2021, reflecting the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on societies and economies, according to The Xinhua News Agency reports.
The total data traffic via the DE-CIX, one of the world's largest internet exchanges, exceeded 38 exabytes (38 billion gigabytes) in 2021, an increase of 20% year-on-year, the company said.
"Overall, global data traffic stabilized at a high level in 2021 after the outbreak of the pandemic and the record-breaking year in 2020, and continues to grow steadily", – said Christoph Dietzel, global head of products and research at DE-CIX.
Liu Yunjie, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, speaks during the World Internet Conference. Photo by Xinhua/Huang Zongzhi.
Data throughput of video conferences via the internet exchange in Frankfurt was high in the first months of 2021 but declined in the summer, when the COVID-19 lockdowns and contact restrictions ended, according to DE-CIX.
"Concepts, such as work-from-home with video conferencing and home entertainment with video streaming and gaming, have become established in everyday life", – Dietzel explained. "This growth will only continue."
For video streaming services, such as Netflix, Disney Plus or Amazon Prime Video, "the distribution was similar but with smaller seasonal differences", – DE-CIX noted.
The situation was different for gaming data traffic, which recorded peak values in the last months of 2021.
The computer screen shows a student of the national academy of dance attending modern dance class via video link in Rome, Italy. Photo by Xinhua/Jin Mamengni.
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