Last year, Belnet recorded an average data traffic of 270 Gbit/s on the BNIX platform - up 36 per cent compared to 2022. "It’s never been so 'busy' on BNIX", says Frédéric Libotte, co-responsible for BNIX as Senior Relationship Manager at Belnet. "Although we have to see the increase from the right perspective: last year we saw a decrease for the first time in ages - which was actually a normalization after the corona-induced boom. Compared to the previous record year 2021, when numerous measures still applied, the increase is about 20 per cent – smaller, but still significant."

Digitalization continues

According to Frédéric, the fact that traffic picked up tremendously in 2023 anyway has several reasons. "2022 was a kind of post-covid transition year, and we were noticing a rise again at the end of that year anyway. This set the trend for 2023, partly because digitalization is speeding up again – this aligns with what we see on our other networks such as Belnet and FedMAN as well. Governments and banks, for example, are organizing more and more interactions with citizens and customers via digital tools, and the shift to the cloud in business is also in full swing.

"Privately, we also see that content consumption keeps rising - more and more people are watching and listening online in ever higher resolution. To enable this, more and more participants are upgrading their connections to BNIX. With the arrival of a major international telecommunications group, we also welcomed a very large new participant. This, like the partnership with LU-CIX, certainly affects the figures, but all in all the trend is very clear."

Snowy peaks

The highest average daily traffic was reached on 8 March, with an average of 300 Gbit/s of data passing BNIX that day. "Not surprisingly a snowy Wednesday", explains Frédéric. "Wednesday is a typical work-from-home day as it is, and the snowfall convinced even more people not to go to the workplace. Moreover, traffic related to content providers such as Netflix was also at its highest on that Wednesday that week – peaking at 424 Gbit/s in the afternoon – instead on Sunday as usual."

The three highest peaks - the exact traffic at a single moment – were recorded on Monday 6 March 2023 (462 Gbit/s), Monday 6 November (457 Gbit/s) and Thursday 7 December (444 Gbit/s). Frédéric Libotte: "Such peaks are often caused by many smaller and unrelated circumstances and are therefore more difficult to explain. What does stand out, however, is that during the working week, plateaus in the morning and afternoon remain higher than those in the evening, unlike before corona. An exception to this is special events, such as Red Devils games."