Growth of Internet in Pandemic

There are some big organizational changes happening at DE-CIX: After more than 25 years as CEO and five years as Chair of the DE-CIX Group AG Board, Harald A. Summa is stepping down to take a seat on the DE-CIX Supervisory Board. Ivo Ivanov, who has until now been a member of the DE-CIX Group AG Board, will take his place as the new CEO and as Chair of the Board.

What has been DE-CIX’s experience handling data traffic in India?
There were huge changes in data traffic. In India, the four DE-CIX locations noted a strong rise in traffic from internet usage – up to 192% since the pandemic hit the country. The demand is enormous, and DE-CIX has further increased its geographical presence lately in order to offer new connectivity options closer to the users in different geographies around the globe, as well as doubling our backbone capacity in India for seamless and secure interconnection.

The shopping festival in India scheduled around the festive time is said to be the most anticipated time of the year. The surge in Internet usage coupled with contactless payment options has caused a major shift in consumer behaviour, leading to a growth wave in online shopping. The convenience and safety considerations that drove trends during the early months of the pandemic are now bolstered by deals, offers and discounts. Making the most of it, e-commerce giants are hosting sales for months – in contrast to the five - six-day sales that were the previous norm.  

With the COVID-19 pandemic hitting the sixth month of global disruption, many companies readily shared data, statistics and observational insights on how the pandemic has impacted the global data infrastructure. While an increased demand for core Internet infrastructure was quickly observed, Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella remarked in April of 2020: “we have seen two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months.”