The three partners DOKOM21, TMR and GELSEN-NET are themselves located throughout Ruhr, and the IX will be housed in their data centres in Dortmund, Bochum, and Gelsenkirchen respectively. Ruhr is the ninth-largest metropolitan region in Europe, with a population greater than that of Rome.
Ruhr-CIX is intended to “further improve the quality of the internet in the region and contribute to the economic growth of the historical German industrial area”.
“With Ruhr-CIX, we make a contribution to bringing the densely-populated historical Ruhr region into the digital age, offering it even greater sovereignty and an essential digital importance,” said Harald A. Summa (pictured), CEO of DE-CIX.
“Improved Internet quality – resulting alone from the localized distribution of the data – will be complemented by the improved stability and flexibility of the regional infrastructure. Connected companies will enjoy a noticeable improvement in their connection quality, meaning that Ruhr-CIX will contribute to their economic success. Through the direct connection to DE-CIX, they also become a part of a global digital ecosystem including important international players,” Summa added.
The new Internet Exchange will be operated by DE-CIX on behalf of the three regional Internet companies DOKOM21, TMR and GELSEN-NET as part of the DE-CIX “Apollon-as-a-Service (AaaS)” program.
The DE-CIX AaaS program includes a range of services, such as the provision and installation of the technology, maintenance, and support for marketing and sales. Further examples of the DE-CIX AaaS program include UAE-IX powered by DE-CIX in Dubai and SEECIX powered by DE-CIX in Athens, the latter also having been founded in 2020.
Ruhr-CIX reduces the packet run-time between connected internet companies and results in a more stable network for applications like cloud computing, VoIP connections, video, gaming, music streaming, and many others. Beyond this, Ruhr-CIX also has the objective of building an improved connection to the important Internet companies like Google, Akamai, Microsoft, Amazon, Netflix, and Facebook.
