DE-CIX Istanbul will initially be a single facility, with plans in place to expand over time to multiple data centres in the metropolitan area.
“Istanbul is already a hub for finance, logistics and transport,” said Harald Summa, DE-CIX CEO. “Like we have experienced in Frankfurt, internet infrastructure follows these developments.”
DE-CIX claims that the Istanbul exchange will be an essential part of the region’s internet ecosystem, noting that the number of internet users in Turkey is growing by 25% each year, according to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
“The need has grown tremendously to interconnect the critical traffic streams that travel from other regions through Istanbul and bring them closer to their destinations,” Summa added.
“Content, cloud, gaming and other providers will meet the eyeballs networks halfway at this new exchange.”
The region is abundant with new terrestrial cable builds such as AMEER, GBI North, JADI and RCN, all of which are designed to provide Middle Eastern connectivity and have landing points in Istanbul.
