Witteman will step down in October, with the senior management taking charge on an interim basis. This consists of chief commercial officer Jesse Robbers, who joined the company in February, CTO Henk Steenman and CFO Saskia Poelman.
He founded AMS-IX in the year 2000, as one of the founders of Euro-IX, a platform for European internet exchanges. He is also co-founder and board member of DINL; the Association of the Digital Infrastructure in the Netherlands.
Prior to founding AMS-IX, he was a senior marketing executive with UPC and GlobalOne/ France Telecom.
Job Witteman says: "After 17.5 years of helping build AMS-IX, it is time for me personally to seek new challenges and I want to see where I can add value with my knowledge and experience. With great confidence, this can now happen, knowing that the company is in top condition.
“I am very proud of what we have achieved over the past years. I have seen the internet grow from the time it was still in its infancy, to a place where people have access to the internet on their mobile phones and nobody can imagine a world without it.”
Under Witteman, AMS-IX has grown to be one of the world's largest internet exchanges, with more than 900 customers, operating seven internet platforms globally and with a peak of internet traffic of 5.5 Tbps.
Sylvie LaPerrière, Chair of the Supervisory Board of AMS-IX, adds: “We are grateful for Job’s contribution to AMS-IX: with a fantastic team, he has built a strong organisation which plays a significant role in the global digital economy and the internet infrastructure.
“We understand and respect his decision to leave and wish him all the best in the future. We will be searching for a successor who, together with the existing management team, can develop and implement a strategy for AMS-IX for the next five years and beyond.”
In June, AMS-IX and PacketFabric announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to connect their respective services, which Witteman said: “AMS-IX has the strategic intent to further grow our presence in the US.”
Earlier this year AMS-IX launched its 13th point of presence (PoP) within Amsterdam, the latest one in Digital Realty’s Data Tower.
