Data highway connection for central Germany

With a high-performance optical fiber network measuring more than 6000 kilometres, the telecommunications service provider envia TEL is helping boost the competitiveness of the regional economy of central Germany in the digital age. The most recent addition at the heart of this network is the DE-CIX Leipzig Internet node. The rapid commissioning of this international data exchange hub was made possible thanks to cooperation with the infrastructure experts from Rosenberger OSI.

In the digital age, access to networks, Clouds and data centers is just as vital as the supply of electricity in the industrial age. The digital transformation has been accelerated in no small part by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has made the Internet an even more important factor for businesses and private individuals alike. In brief: The continuing expansion of Internet use and the associated growth in the transferred data volumes are increasingly making adaptations to IT infrastructures necessary. And this is particularly true for economic actors.

This is because as soon as companies make use of services from different providers and connect people and devices in different locations to these services then the demand for bandwidth and response capabilities grows exponentially. While the focus in the Ruhr region has for some years been placed on forward-looking development and the exploitation of economic opportunities at the local level thanks to the area’s direct connection to DE-CIX Frankfurt, central Germany was connected via numerous small individual solutions. This is why the German Commercial Internet Exchange (DE-CIX) has brought a further Internet node online in Germany. This is housed in various locations, including the data center Leipzig. This colocation data center belongs to envia TEL, central Germany’s leading telecommunications service provider and network operator, and is the first Internet node for the federal states Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. Combined with high-performance optical fiber connections, the new Leipzig-based node further improves Internet quality in central Germany, including for the connected enterprises, and therefore promises to boost innovation throughout the entire economic region. This is because it brings a whole range of advantages for the area:

• Because the data can be transferred directly between subscribers over an Internet node, the paths to the next point at which the direct optical fibers are networked are shortened. This means that fewer intermediate hops are required and reduces latencies.
• The network is more stable, bringing benefits for applications such as Cloud computing, VoIP connections, videos, gaming or music streaming.
• Connected companies can be interfaced directly with Internet giants such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Akamai or Netflix.
• It becomes easier for businesses, administrations, local authorities and schools to use digital services, while digital work and leisure offerings are also promoted.
• This helps further expand the multifaceted character of the digital transformation: Internet of Things (IoT), 5G, extended broadband, autonomous driving, Cloud computing, Cloud Connect and much more.

All in all, the new Internet node should make central Germany more attractive at the economic level and create new jobs in the field of information and communication technology (ICT).

Connected to the world: Internet node for central Germany

Thanks to DE-CIX Leipzig, the entire central German region is directly connected to the global data networks. This leads to better, faster networking. The infrastructure of the DE-CIX (German Commercial Internet Exchange) reaches out across a large number of optical fiber connections to various locations worldwide. With an average data throughput of seven terabits per second (start of 2021) and a peak value of 11 terabits per second (2022), DE-CIX Frankfurt is the largest Internet node in terms of traffic volumes not just in Germany but in the entire world. In addition, many other national and international data exchange nodes are operated from the Frankfurt am Main location: For example in New York, Chicago, Lisbon, Marseilles, Berlin, Hamburg and now also Leipzig.

Boosting innovation in the Leipzig economy

The DE-CIX service offering includes various interconnection services, including GlobePEER, GlobePEER Remote, DirectCLOUD, or VirtualPN. Thanks to its connection to the main DE-CIX site in Frankfurt, the GlobePEER Remote Service permits peering with the networks of other DE-CIX locations such as Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg or Munich. “DE-CIX is like a large data highway link. Everything is much faster for the clients. And this attracts new users,” says Michael Freitag, Group Head for Data Centers, envia TEL GmbH.

Thanks to peering, Internet service providers, content providers, network service providers and companies that have their own networks can connect to one another through an Internet exchange node and are therefore able to benefit from direct, cost-neutral data exchange. As in the case of the DE-CIX in Frankfurt, where more than 1,000 networks now interconnect. In addition, regional peering permits faster, economically more agile connectivity within the region itself as well as between the region and the rest of the world. All in all, peering brings together a range of advantages for all types of organization; starting with small hosting providers, through Internet service providers (ISPs) and content delivery networks and on to mid-sized and large companies.

envia TEL’s Managing Director, Stephan Drescher, summarizes the concept as follows: “The DE-CIX Leipzig offers us the shortest path to connect to international data exchange points. We can compare the DE-CIX Leipzig with air travel: The data exchange point in Leipzig is like a destination that is now flown to by travellers from all over the world. There are no longer any transfer flights from intermediate airports. In the same way, data in the future will no longer have to stop over at a remote exchange point. Instead, there will be a direct connection to eastern Germany. This greatly cuts the latencies of the Internet connections of the connected companies, local authorities and schools in the region and makes these connections faster, more stable and of a higher quality.

Services and cabling solutions from a single source

As was previously the case for the data center Leipzig, the infrastructure for the Internet node was planned, delivered, installed and commissioned by Rosenberger OSI. Thanks to the provider’s comprehensive project management, planning and implementation activities, envia TEL was able to call on expert technical consultancy and support at every stage of the project. “The advantage to customers is that they can source everything they need for their projects from a single supplier. We can supply both the equipment and the associated services. That simplifies many aspects of customers’ projects and workflows,” explains Andreas Kluge, Sales Team Germany, Rosenberger OSI.

Narrow timeframe for implementation

One challenge during this project was the tight timeframe. But despite this, the team from Rosenberger OSI was able to complete its tasks on time. The “one-stop shop” concept showed its worth here. Because everything was provided by a single supplier, there were no losses of time or information and no warranty queries.