IX.br reaches mark of 10 Tb/s of peak Internet traffic

Traffic grew by 60% last year. The increase in ISPs connected to IXPs and greater access to streaming services explain the peak

IX.br, one of the largest Internet exchange points in the world, surpassed the mark of 10 Tb/s of peak Internet traffic on March 18. In the following week, on March 23, it reached 11 Tb/s of peak traffic. IX.br (Brasil Internet Exchange) is an initiative of the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br) and the Brazilian Network Information Center (NIC.br) that creates and promotes the necessary infrastructure for direct connections between Brazil’s Internet networks.

“IX.br has registered very impressive growth in recent months. Aggregate traffic has grown by 60% in the past year and it’s still expanding. It increased by 43% in six months, and by 25% over the last three”, points out Milton Kaoru Kashiwakura, Special Projects & Development Director for NIC.br.

Kashiwakura believes that a number of factors contributed to the increase in Internet traffic. “The 10Tb/s and 11Tb/s peaks possibly happened when, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, more people started to access the Internet for purposes such as working from home and distance study, and looking for entertainment, such as streaming videos and games. This context is an important milestone for IX.br, but it shouldn’t be seen in isolation, because we’ve been seeing uniform and significant growth in the increase curve in Internet traffic in IXPs,” he says.

Among the reasons for this is the growing number of ISPs (Internet Service Providers) connected to NIC.br’s IXPs - today there are about 2500 participants, which include ISPs, telecommunication operators, content providers, CDNs (Content Delivery Networks), academic, research and government networks and business. The investment that many Autonomous Systems (ASs) have made in expanding their participation in IX.br is also significant. “The São Paulo IXP is a content hub for Latin America. We have more and more foreign companies and CDNs exchanging traffic on IX.br, as well as a lot of ASs investing to expand their installed capacity,” says Kashiwakura. The São Paulo IXP is the largest in the world in terms of the number of interconnected networks and the third largest considering data traffic.

Streaming and Smart TV

Another factor responsible for boosting Internet traffic in Brazil is the boom in the video streaming market, with a greater number of companies operating in the sector and expansion of the content on offer. “The popularization of smart TVs that have Internet connection and 4K resolution also contributes to the increase in traffic, since they consume more bandwidth and make for a better experience for consumers, which often results in greater connection time”, adds the director of NIC.br. The ICT Households Survey, which was published by CGI.br in 2019, indicates that 30% of Internet users in Brazil connect to the network by way of a TV, and this number has been growing since 2014, when this percentage was only 7%.

Advantages of IX.br

Traffic exchange points, or Internet Exchanges, are neutral points where different organizations are interconnected with each other to exchange Internet data packets. IXPs are formed by data centers using equipment that allows the simultaneous connection of hundreds of organizations - video streaming companies, search engines, social networks, banks, universities, government agencies, etc. This union of networks allows the Internet to be faster, more efficient, fault-resistant and cheaper.

NIC.br operates 33 Internet Exchanges spread across the five regions in Brazil, and it is still expanding. Cascavel (PR) and Campo Grande (MS) were the last locations to receive IXPs, while Macapá (AP) and Palmas (TO) will be the next. “We expect IX.br to be present in all state capitals in Brazil soon,” Kashiwakura predicts. Another location with the potential to become a content hub is the IX in Fortaleza (CE), because it is closer to the United States and Europe.

NIC.br has also been working to reduce the distance between content and content users, which helps improve the online experience. In addition to São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza, places where many CDNs have their own facilities, NIC.br has jointly invested with these companies to distribute content in cities like Salvador and Manaus, plus others that are currently being looked at.

For more information about IX.br, which in 2019 celebrated its 15th anniversary, watch the commemorative video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FiCV0hr83Q.

About the Brazilian Network Information Center – NIC.br
The Brazilian Network Information Center (https://www.nic.br/) is a not-for-profit civil entity governed by private law, which in addition to implementing the decisions and projects of the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee, is also responsible for: coordinating the registration of domain names — Registro.br (https://www.registro.br/); studying, responding to and handling security incidents in Brazil — CERT.br (https://www.cert.br/); studying and researching network and operations technologies — Ceptro.br (https://www.ceptro.br/); producing indicators on information and communication technologies — Cetic.br (https://www.cetic.br/); implementing and operating Internet Exchange points — IX.br (https://ix.br/); enabling the participation of the Brazilian community in global development of the Web, and supporting the formulation of public policies — Ceweb.br (https://www.ceweb.br); and housing W3C office in Brazil (https://www.w3c.br/).

About the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee – CGI.br
The Brazilian Internet Steering Committee, which is responsible for establishing strategic guidelines relating to the use and development of the Internet in the country, coordinates and brings together all Internet service initiatives Brazil, promoting technical quality, innovation and the dissemination of its services. Based on the principles of multistakeholderism, transparency and democracy, CGI.br is a multi-sector Internet governance model, in whose decisions all sectors in society have an effectively participation. One of its formulations is the 10 Principles for Governance and the Use of the Internet (https://www.cgi.br/principios). Further information is available at: https://www.cgi.br/.

Press contacts:

Weber Shandwick
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PABX: (11) 3027-0200 / 3531-4950
Ana Jones - ana.jones@webershandwick.com - (11) 3027-0200 ramal: 312
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Communication office – NIC.br
Caroline D’Avo – Communiation Manager – caroline@nic.br
Carolina Carvalho – Communication Coordinator – carolcarvalho@nic.br
Soraia Marino – Communication Assistant – soraia@nic.br

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