Dutch people set new data record at Amsterdam internet hub amid bad weather last night

The rainy weather on Sunday sent residents of the Netherlands online en masse, which broke an internet data record. The Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX), one of the most important internet exchanges in the world, processed an astounding 12 terabits of data per second around 7:30 p.m.

The peak of 12 terabits of data is equivalent to "100 million people playing Fortnite at the same time, or 6.4 million people watching TikTok videos," according to AMS-IX. The old record was set in October 2022, when 11.1 terabits per second passed through the node. That was also on a Sunday evening.

Data traffic has been increasing through the Amsterdam exchange for years. In 2010 the node passed the 1 terabit per second limit, and in 2013 the 3 terabit mark was passed. Six years later, in 2019, Amsterdam exceeded 6 terabit per second. It took five years to double that.

The Amsterdam exchange was established in 1994. The hub has hundreds of members, including major companies such as Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Spotify and Netflix.

The Amsterdam hub is actually spread over sixteen linked locations located in Amsterdam, Haarlem, Rotterdam, Naaldwijk and at Schiphol.