PDF - Amsterdam Internet Exchange

Transcription

2014
Annual Report
Annual Report 2014 |
Table of Contents
04
05
07
Preface by the
Chairwoman
The Way the Web
Works & The Role of
Internet Exchanges
Introduction
08
09
14
15
22
Word from
the CEO
General
Beyond
Today’s
Horizons
Technical
Developments
Word from the CTO
25
26
31
32
36
Coming to America
Commercial
Developments
Streamlining
Processes, Building
the Business
Outlook for 2015
and Beyond
Summary
of Accounts
41
Auditor’s Report
on the Summary
of Accounts
42
43
Colophon
List of
New Members
& Customers
3
4
Preface by the Chairwoman
2014 and Beyond:
AMS-IX Continues
to Innovate for the
Benefit of All
“ For decision-makers everywhere, it is
becoming clear that digital infrastructure
is increasingly important in every
conceivable area, from business to
education, healthcare, entertainment
and society in general.”
Sylvie LaPerrière
AMS-IX’s commitment to thinking ahead and spreading its open
Internet access model across the globe has been clearly visible in the
past year. 2014 witnessed the arrival of the AMS-IX East Africa Exchange
Point platform, AMS-IX Bay Area and AMS-IX Chicago, and new
Points-of-Presence in New York.
Besides ongoing global expansion and
forging new partnerships, AMS-IX has also
been occupied with other matters. Customer
Service and My.AMS-IX have been revamped
and they have continued to focus on internal
communications. In addition, AMS-IX organised and took part in a variety of events
and sponsored projects worldwide. Having
achieved so much all over the world with
a team of less than 50 people is an achievement in itself and speaks highly of the
commitment and know-how of all involved.
stakeholders and taking part in debates that
will determine the future of the Internet.
For decision-makers everywhere, it is becoming clear that digital infrastructure
is increasingly important in every conceivable area, from business to education,
healthcare, entertainment and society
in general. Last year, data traffic over the
AMS-IX platform increased by 30% and the
exchange welcomed over 100 new parties.
This means that there is an important
global role for AMS-IX to play in informing
I would like to thank everyone working at
this wonderful organisation for making
2014 a success and helping make AMS-IX’s
vision of the future a reality.
Over the past two decades, AMS-IX has built
itself a reputation as a forward-looking
Internet pioneer and provider of the most
excellent service. The main challenge today
is to keep moving and developing to keep
up with constant changes and new risks.
The entire organisation will continue to
innovate and deliver the best value to its
members and customers.
On behalf of the Executive Board of the
AMS-IX Association
Sylvie LaPerrière, Chairwoman
The Internet is a
network of networks,
based on a set of
rules: the Internet
Protocol (IP).
Boosting benefits of global networking
and helping your data get around
5
All those claims made by budding IT firms back in the seventies and
eighties have turned out to be true... Invest in a computer and your
productivity, efficiency and scope of possibilities will grow enormously. In
the eighties and nineties, we were told that if we joined several computers
into a network, those advantages would grow exponentially. This led to the
growth of early Wide- and Local Area Networks. In the nineties, we were
told something that universities and governments around the world had
already discovered... If you manage to hook up several of those networks,
the possibilities are endless. The resulting uptake of the Internet in every
area of business, education, society and daily life turned out to be a truly
unique phenomenon in the history of humankind...
There’s one thing that needs to be taken into account, however: all those
networks have to play by the same rules in order for us to reap their full
potential... The Internet is a network of networks, based on a set of rules:
the Internet Protocol (IP). As long as everyone sticks to those rules, we can
simply keep adding devices and continue to innovate. Currently, there are
around 50,000 unique IP networks, and together these form the world wide
web. Each network performs functions in the area of content, end-users
access, transport, storage, website hosting and applications.
Putting the pieces together
The messages you send over the Internet don’t travel as a single big block they are divided into tiny data packets, which take different paths. Kind of
like a fleet of cars taking multiple routes, depending on where the roads are
least congested... To get data from point A to point B, three different options
are available to networks.
ROLE OF IXPS
The Way
the Web Works
& the Role
of Internet
Exchanges
Option three simplifies this: both networks link to an Internet Exchange,
where the data packet is transferred. A direct connection between sender
and receiver is not necessary. The exchange might link a local ISP to a major
carrier, such as an international telecom provider, which delivers the data
package as closely to its final destination as possible. The receiver’s ISP picks
it up from that point.
Internet Exchange Points: What Do They Do?
Internet Exchanges, such as AMS-IX (Amsterdam Internet Exchange), are physical locations where networks come together to interconnect and directly
exchange traffic. This is called ‘peering’ and it makes the Internet more affordable and faster for everyone. Each network connected to AMS-IX may peer
with any other connected network, although there is no obligation to do so.
It depends on the peering policy of every connected party. Peering is mostly
done without any money changing hands. It is based on mutual benefits for
both parties involved.
An exchange operator, such as AMS-IX, only provides data transport within its
own metropolitan area. This means that AMS-IX in Amsterdam doesn’t link
directly to its locations in Hong Kong, Curaçao, Mombasa, Chicago, New York
and San Francisco. Its customers take care of this themselves. AMS-IX resellers
can link to exchanges by providing ports wherever they have a network available. End users don’t connect directly to Internet Exchanges. Instead, they
rely on the services of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) or telecom companies
to do that for them.
Large Internet Exchanges fulfil a national as well as an international role.
AMS-IX is a prime example of this. At this exchange almost all large Dutch
networks, and most of the smaller ones, exchange traffic. However, close to
80% of the connected networks originate from Europe, the Middle East, North
and South America, Asia and even Africa.
In short....
By peering at an Internet Exchange, parties can decrease network costs, improve network performance, become more autonomous and make their network more redundant. Improving network performance is done by accessing
many networks directly at the exchange, instead of making several network
‘hops’ through other parties.
Fact
‘Peering’ makes the
Internet more affordable
and faster for everyone.
ROLE OF IXPS
The simplest option is making a direct connection between one network and
another. When an email is sent, for example, the sender’s Internet Service
Provider (ISP) connects directly to the receiver’s ISP and relays the message.
This works well within a single country, but if a wider geography needs to be
covered, the data will have to pass through multiple networks. As a result, a
second option arises: parties need to buy connectivity from transit providers,
allowing their data to reach and return from a particular destination.
6
7
Introduction
As huge efforts are being made to bring the European and US
economies back on track, one thing is clear: global governments
and businesses see technology, especially data and web-based
technology, as the way forward. However, in our opinion,
connectivity brings much more than economic benefits; it is an
essential enabler for education, cooperation and understanding.
In 2014, AMS-IX has been busy expanding
its horizons. Our global strategy has led to
increasing internationalization and, with
our members’ approval, we have continued
to export the AMS-IX Internet Exchange
model and boosted the brand’s recognition
globally. This also helps attract new parties
to AMS-IX in Amsterdam and stimulates
ongoing growth.
Last year, the AMS-IX East Africa Exchange
Point platform was finalized, hitting
1 Gbps of peak traffic within its first few
months of operation. Following the official
launch of our first US deployment, AMS-IX
New York in late 2013, we expanded to
more data centres within the region. During 2014, we also established operations in
the San Francisco Bay Area and Chicago.
Our new points-of-presence - AMS-IX Bay
Area in Digital Realty’s 365 Main Street
facility, San Francisco, and CoreSite’s
Silicon Valley SV1 facility - enable additional peering opportunities for customers to
improve connectivity and reach end-users.
AMS-IX Bay Area’s platform will focus on
creating a regional interconnection hub and
attract new businesses.
AMS-IX Chicago brings an affordable, neutral,
and distributed Internet Exchange model to
the Chicago metropolitan area, improving
the interconnection model in this region
by decreasing complexity and associated
costs. Chicago is an interesting market
for AMS-IX, as it is located at an important
crossing point for Internet traffic and is
an important marketplace for content and
digital media as well as financial services.
The expansion hasn’t only been geographical: we exceeded 3 Tbps of peak traffic on
the AMS-IX platform in Amsterdam. The
economic importance of the Netherlands’
data mainport – next to Rotterdam’s
seaport and Schiphol airport - is now widely recognized. With the move to our new
building at Frederiksplein 42 we have
expanded our office space, providing a modern work environment and preparing the
AMS-IX B.V. for future employee expansion.
2014 has been an exciting and fruitful year,
and we look forward to increasing the value of our Internet Exchange platforms by
growing their connected communities. We
will further improve existing knowledge
and models to enhance quality and ensure
your future. For the coming years, our aim
is to make a valid, lasting contribution to
global economic improvement, but also
empower people everywhere through the
sharing of knowledge and information.
Mark Cooper, Chief Commercial Officer
“ Our global strategy has led to
increasing internationalization and,
with our members’ approval, we have
continued to export the AMS-IX
Internet Exchange model and boosted
the brand’s recognition globally.”
Mark Cooper
8
Word from the CEO
2014 has been a successful year for AMS-IX, the world’s leading
Internet Exchange. Last year, we celebrated our 20th anniversary,
a true milestone.
Looking back, we are proud to see that once
again we realised tremendous growth. More
than 100 new networks joined the platform
in Amsterdam, while existing networks
upgraded their connectivity, resulting in an
additional 3,5 Tbps of capacity. Our partners
have contributed substantially by bringing in
74% of these new networks.
“ We aim to create breeding grounds
that help grow digital economies,
so that many more people can enjoy
the luxury of being connected efficiently,
effectively and reliably.”
Job Witteman
AMS-IX once again expanded its horizons. We
celebrated the opening of AMS-IX New York,
AMS-IX Bay Area and AMS-IX Chicago and are
now live in three metro areas across the US.
As the organisation follows the growth of the
network, we took the opportunity to close to
the old offices and move to new premises.
At the end of May of 2014, AMS-IX moved to
a ‘brand new’ office on the Frederiksplein,
Amsterdam. We decided to simply brand the
new office ‘42’. Besides the Answer to The
Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and
Everything in Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s
Guide to the Galaxy, this also happens to be our
house number on Frederiksplein.
In 2013, renowned research firm Deloitte
drafted a report which makes clear that
AMS-IX is playing a vital role for Europe’s
ICT infrastructure, We are widely seen as
the Netherlands’ third mainport, along with
Schiphol airport and the port of Rotterdam.
In 2014, a follow-up report on the ‘Digital
Infrastructure’ was published. This further
quantifies the value of the Digital Industry
for the wider Dutch economy, with AMS-IX
at the heart. It shows that 140,000 jobs are
attributed to ICT; many of which didn’t exist
20 years ago.
We aim to further strengthen the role we
currently have in the Netherlands and expand across the globe in a similar way, with
the same vision in mind. We aim to create
breeding grounds that help grow digital
economies, so that many more people can enjoy the luxury of being connected efficiently,
effectively and reliably.
9
General
Growth has always been the AMS-IX limited Company’s primary
goal. Continuous growth defines the value of an exchange. Our 2014
customer survey has once again shown that this is mainly measured
in connected parties, along with associated growth in traffic, ports,
routes and volume.
From the first day, it was clear that international focus is the best
way to grow the exchange. We have shown ongoing commitment
to attracting international parties to AMS-IX Amsterdam and
our global outlook has led to internationalization too. This was
put into practice in 2014 with the deployment of three exchanges
– AMS- IX East Africa Exchange Point in Kenya, AMS-IX Bay Area
and AMS-IX Chicago in the US – and the expansion of AMS-IX
New York into additional data centres. Until 2014, such a large
number of platforms had never been built in a single year.
We place great value on the organisational structure of AMS-IX. It provides
a significant degree of independence and neutrality, which has contributed
to our growth, continuity and global outlook. The following paragraphs
explain this structure in greater detail.
Governance Structure
AMS-IX consists of three separate official legal entities: the AMS-IX Association, the AMS-IX limited Company and its subsidiary AMS-IX USA Inc. The
organisation and its staff are incorporated in the Company, of which the Association is the single shareholder. The Executive Board of the Association,
which consists of five people, acts as the Supervisory Board of the Company.
Board members are elected from member organisations, at which they must
be employed at the time of appointment. They are, however, elected in a
personal capacity. Members can stay on for the full duration of their appointment, should they join another company before their term has ended. If they
join a non-member company, resignation is in order if a re-election is held.
Board members can stay for a maximum of two three-year terms.
The AMS-IX Company takes the majority of the decisions, within the
boundaries set by annual and long-term plans approved by the Association
and/or Board. The annual plan and budget, as well as items outside of the
scope relating to management control, are approved by the Board in board
meetings.
GENERAL
Organisation
customers surpassed the number of new members, from 72% in 2012 and
78% in 2013 to 89% in 2014. The total number of connected IP networks at
the end of the year was 696.
Compared to previous years, most new parties did not come from the Netherlands (10%), but from the United States (18%) and Italy (11%). Many new Italian
parties came through our reseller Lepida SpA, while a large group of new US
customers connected either directly or through our partner Equinix.
AMS-IX Organisation Structure
AMS-IX bodies
Association
Corporation
90%
of new members &
Meeting acts as
General Assembly
Shareholders meeting
Board acts as
Executive Board
Supervisory Board
outside the Netherlands
Management
of which
Management acts as
Company management reports to the Board on a quarterly basis. The Board
reports to the members twice a year in the General Meeting (GM). During
these formal meetings members may cast their votes.
AMS-IX Association & Customers
Over the past year, 109 new IP networks went into production on the AMS-IX
platform. 12 of these networks were new members and 97 were non-member
customers. For the third consecutive year, the number of new non-member
customers are from
30%
Netherlands
utside Europe
O
• Middle East
• Africa
• North America
• South America
• Caribbean
• Asia
10%
30%
60%
are from
outside Europe
Europe
The Board
Members can influence the direction of the organisation and the decision-making process with regard to the Company’s strategy and operations.
The Board, therefore, should be a well-balanced representation of our member community. In 2014, the Board remained unchanged.
GENERAL
Specific issues, such as board member elections and annual accounting,
require express consent from the Association. Members also vote on the
annual strategic plan, which contains details of the company’s strategy,
and related matters. These include product pricing and terms, or plans
for international expansion, strategic partnerships, investments and introduction of new entities.
10
Board in 2014
Organisation
Exec member since
Sylvie LaPerrière
Google
21 Nov 2012 (Chairwoman)
Alex Bik
BIT
24 Nov 2010 (Secretary)
Ian Cleary
Level3
Communications
13 Nov 2013 (Treasurer)
Ryan Donelly
Verisign
13 Nov 2013
Arif Polat
Türk Telekom
24 Nov 2010
Fact
Overall feedback from
attending members
on GM41 was very
positive.
General Meeting
The GM consists of the General Assembly meeting of the Association and the
Shareholder meeting of the limited Company. During every GM, a number
of compulsory topics are on the agenda. However, the GM also provides a
platform for members to meet and socialize.
Personal GM attendance is not mandatory for members, who can vote and
follow presentations and discussions off-site. The meeting is broadcast on the
Internet as a webcast, and the online voting facility is open to members for
a 24 hour period. In addition to this, we provide a chat channel to answer
remote attendees’ questions in real-time.
The 40th GM took place during the 4th MORE-IP event in Pakhuis de Zwijger,
Amsterdam on May 21 and 22, 2014. The Annual Accounts of the Association
and Long Term Commercial Strategy (LCTS), outlook 2014 -2017, were presented and approved by the members. The LTCS describes the plans for the
direction of the company, especially in commercial terms, in detail.
Following our move to a new, more spacious building in May, the second GM
(GM41) was held at the AMS-IX Company office on December 18. It is the first
time that the GM was organised at our office location. Overall feedback from
attending members was very positive. The subjects of GM41 included minutes
of the previous GM and the Annual Operating Plan and Budget 2015 (AOPB).
The AOPB is a tactical one-year plan, which is approved beforehand by the
Board, and presented to the members during the GM. The plan sets out in detail what developments are expected for the year to come, with regard to the
technical platform and commercial activities. The Chapter Outlook 2015 and
Beyond, presented further on in this report, describes these developments
and activities in greater detail.
GENERAL
Board Member
11
12
Corporate Social Responsibility
Managing director of the AMS-IX Company, a limited corporation (Besloten
Vennootschap (B.V.) in Dutch), is Job Witteman. He has fulfilled this role
since the birth of the Company on January 1, 2000. The company consists of
technology, commercial and financial departments, as well as front office,
catering and executive assistance staff. The Executive Assistant role is new
within the Company, mainly providing general support to the Board and
management and leading the front office.
AMS-IX plays a significant role in society by keeping a vital part of the
Internet in first-class condition at all times. The Internet performs an
indispensable part in global information gathering and exchange, software innovation and service development in day-to-day business and
society. The AMS-IX Association, Company, and its representatives and employees, are well aware of the importance of this responsibility. We view
this as our contribution to society and fulfil this beyond the boundaries
of roles, job descriptions and regular working hours.
Other noteworthy developments within the Company employee base are
the expansion of the front office with 0.6fte, as we have decided to keep the
office open longer, and the addition of a NOC administrator to the technical
department. This job focuses on providing administrative support to the
technical team and acquiring equipment and other materials.
Overall, the company employee base comprised 43fte on average in 2014.
Move to New Building
In the spring of 2014, the Company moved to a new building at Frederiksplein 42
in Amsterdam to expand office space, provide a modern working environment with improved internal reach and prepare the AMS-IX B.V. for future
employee expansion.
AMS-IX USA Inc.
The AMS-IX USA Inc. was founded in late 2013 as a 100% subsidiary of the
AMS-IX Company. The two operate independently, with the Company acting
solely as a shareholder. In 2014, the AMS-IX USA Inc. had no employees,
with the exception of Managing Director, Nico Scheper, who reported
directly to the Company.
Fact
The company employee
base comprised 41.5fte
on average in 2014.
GENERAL
The Company
The Company
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Job Witteman
(31/12/2014)
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
Esther Donkervoort
HUMAN RESOURCE
Esther Fiolet – HR Manager
FRONT OFFICE & CATERING
Adriënne Schreuders – Front Office
Marjolijn Koelewijn – Front Office
Jetmien Rasdan – Catering
Chantal Caupain – HR Officer
CHIEF COMMERCIAL OFFICER
Mark Cooper
SALES & BUSSINES DEVELOPMENT
Onno Bos – Sales Director
Aleksandar Mitrov – Account Manager
Erik Verhoef – Account Manager
REGULATORY & PUBLIC AFFAIRS
Bastiaan Goslings
MEMBER RELATIONS &
CUSTOMER SERVICE
Aleksandra Smigielska – MR & CS Rep
Mariya Andonova – MR & CS Rep
Natalja Larionova – MR & CS Rep
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
Marco Bakker
FINANCE
Philip Wolf – Financial Controller
Elisabetta Ghermandi – Account
Receivable Specialist
Irina Mozgovaya – Billing Assistant
Saskia Taggenbrock – Finance Assistant
CHIEF TECHNICAL OFFICER
Henk Steenman
ENGINEERING
Ariën Vijn – Team Leader
Engineering & Research
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Luisa Garcia Montoya – Project Manager
Tom Visbeek – Installation Engineer
Winston With – Installation Engineer
Tim Vriend – Installation Engineer
Joris Claassen – Installation Engineer
SECURITY MANAGEMENT
Aris Lambrianidis – Security Officer /
Senior Network Engineer
COMMUNICATIONS & EVENTS
Petra Wensing – Marketing
Communications & Events Manager
Pauline Hartsuiker –
PR & Communications Specialist
Henrica Kranendonk –
Marketing Support
13
SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT
& OPERATIONS
Steven Bakker – Team Leader
Martin Lyden – Senior Web Developer
Peter Brouwer – Web Developer
Petros Papadopoulos – Web Developer
Gloria Garcia Dosil – Software Developer
Marcel Wiebenga– Software Developer
Laszlo Bogardi – Software Developer
Davide Lucchesi – System Engineer
Quyen Ly – System Engineer
NETWORK ENGINEERING
Konstantinos Koutalis – NOC Manager
Maksym Tulyuk – Network Engineer
Maxx Cherevko – Network Engineer
Bart Myszkowski – Network Engineer
Eric Nguyen – Network Engineer
Yannick San-a-Jong - Network Engineer
Beyond
Today’s Horizons
It probably won’t come as a surprise, but 2014 was another exciting and
turbulent year for AMS-IX. We continued to invest in international expansion,
spreading the AMS-IX gospel, so to speak, as we established additional exchange
points in East Africa and the United States. The Internet is a huge global
success, but there is still plenty of room for improvement when it comes to
laying out local infrastructure and interconnecting networks in a more efficient
and cost-effective manner. That’s why AMS-IX is proud to see continuing
demand for its unique neutral, distributed and non-profit exchange model,
helping bring digital economic and social benefits to new regions. Obviously,
building a new exchange needs to fit in with the AMS-IX philosophy and be in
line with our members’ mission: realising principal, neutral IP interconnection
marketplaces worldwide. If a request fits that mission, who are we to refuse?
How did AMS-IX’s traditional core business
develop in 2014? The Amsterdam platform
also grew significantly in terms of connected
networks and traffic. So, nothing new here
either. It was interesting to see this ongoing
development confirmed in a follow-up report on
the importance of the digital infrastructure for
Dutch society. Previously ‘hidden’ statistics had
a positive impact on the views of politicians and
policy makers in 2014. Especially where these
related to services that depend on a smoothly
functioning digital infrastructure, as well as
revenues generated and an estimation of the
contribution of the sector to the Dutch economy. The conclusion: this sector is showing impressive autonomous growth, and expanding on
the opportunities this ‘third mainport’ provides
has now become official public policy.
An important spinoff of the report was the
launch of the Digital Infrastructure Netherlands (DINL) platform. Initiators include ISPs,
hosting companies, data centres, the registry
for the .NL top level Internet domain, the academic network and AMS-IX. Aiming to build
upon previous successes requires a focus on the
conditions that allowed these to be realised, and
which are necessary for the sector to blossom in
future. Several of the parties that contributed to
the research felt this was an area in which we
needed to combine forces. If not handled with
caution, regulatory initiatives can interfere,
albeit unintentionally, with everyone’s digital
sector growth ambitions. One could argue there
is a risk that government officials also wish to
‘expand their horizons’ as the sector and its
impact become more visible.
A number of important regulatory topics related
to Internet infrastructure were debated in 2014
and will continue to be prioritised in 2015. In
the European Union, for instance, consensus
on the scope of a Network Information Security
Directive and a European set of net neutrality
provisions was not reached. In the Netherlands,
a planned review of the entire critical infra-
14
structure protection regime was delayed. However, the private sector was invited to discuss
whether additional legal provisions governing
continuity and notification are necessary for
‘new’ market players not covered by existing
Dutch telecommunications law. Like IXPs. Next
to this, the Ministry of Economic Affairs stated
its intention to have the Dutch regulator study
the peering and transit market.
Plans were also announced which would allow
the government to use technical facilities offered by the infrastructure for (national) security purposes. These are far-reaching intentions
that could seriously affect trust, an essential
element in a largely self-organising ecosystem
such as the Internet. End-users and businesses
need to have this trust online if progress is to
be made. However, to fight online crime, Dutch
law enforcement not only means to obtain the
capability to hack into any automated device in
the Netherlands or abroad. After waiting for the
dust to settle following the Snowden revelations
regarding foreign intelligence agencies’ surveillance activities, the Dutch government quietly
published its position that Dutch intelligence
agencies should be equipped with additional
competences allowing them to intercept IP-traffic
in bulk in the area of ‘cables’.
In principle, AMS-IX does not take a political
stance. However, in 2015 we will proactively inform decision-makers about the technicalities of
the exchange platform and the practical impact
of the measures proposed, as part of a constructive dialogue. Furthermore we will, together
with the industry and other stakeholders, explicitly urge politicians to conduct a fundamental and public debate about the proportionality
of new laws. As mentioned in the Dutch cyber
security strategy, it’s all about the very delicate
balance between privacy, economy and security.
Bastiaan Goslings,
Governance and Policy Officer
“ In 2015 we will proactively
inform decision-makers about
the technicalities of the exchange
platform and the practical impact
of the measures proposed, as part
of a constructive dialogue.”
Bastiaan Goslings
The engineering
team has never built
so many locations
since the AMS-IX was
founded.
Technical
2014 was marked by the building of new Internet Exchanges and expansion
of our existing platforms. The engineering team has never built this many
locations since the AMS-IX was founded. The AMS-IX East Africa Exchange
Point became fully productive in April, followed by AMS-IX Bay Area in
September and AMS-IX Chicago in November. Three extra locations were
also added to AMS-IX New York in Sabey Data Centers’ Intergate Manhattan,
DuPont Fabros Technology’s NJ1 data centre and 325 Hudson, while a second Point-of-Presence (PoP) of AMS-IX Bay Area was built in CoreSite’s SV1
location in San Jose.
In addition, the engineering team performed many backbone upgrades and
built new ports. The NOC executed the peering LAN renumbering. System
Development & Operations focused on creating a separate customer portal
for the US platforms and further automating customer, partner and network implementation, provisioning and change processes.
Due to the AMS-IX Limited Company’s change of address to Frederiksplein 42
the fixed and wireless infrastructure and the lab needed to move and be
implemented again. Furthermore, a new security system (cameras, video
storage system and access card/tag system) was selected and installed.
Network Operations Center (NOC)
The NOC team operates from the AMS-IX office in the centre of Amsterdam.
From here, the NOC manages the exchange platforms on a 24x365 basis by
means of a redundant and separate (from the production network) management network as well as a multitude of ingenious monitoring tools. Though
most of the management tasks on the AMS-IX platform are carried out
TECHNICAL
Technical
Developments
15
Next to the day-to-day platform operations, the NOC manages the interaction with connected networks in case of customer or partner-related issues,
installations, relocations and upgrades.
Network Engineering
The engineering team performs necessary platform extensions, platform upgrades and migration plans. Owing to the scale of the platform in Amsterdam
and one of the highest density traffic levels worldwide, AMS-IX works with the
latest switch hardware and network software. Our input is frequently sought
by leading switch manufacturers, in support of the development of their next
generation equipment.
Topology & Architecture
Amsterdam
The AMS-IX platform in Amsterdam is a distributed Internet Exchange, present
in eleven data centres across the city. The twelfth location in Terremark, to
which we expanded in 2012, did not live up to expectations. In the past two
years, no new customer ports were added here. As a result we decided, together
with Terremark, to move out this colocation at the end of 2014.
Each of the eleven sites is equipped with one or more access devices to enable
connections to the AMS-IX infrastructure.
The AMS-IX peering platform is implemented as an MPLS/VPLS network allowing us to scale well beyond the traditional Layer 2 exchange network often
used for IXPs. The setup enables a resilient and highly scalable infrastructure,
inherent to MPLS. The interface towards the connected networks is Ethernet.
Networks connect with Gigabit Ethernet (GE), 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GE)
or 100 Gigabit Ethernet (100GE) or multiples of these in the form of LAGs
(link aggregation). Smaller capacities are offered via resellers and range from
100 to multiples of 1000Mbps and, wherever the reseller connects to AMS-IX
via 100GE, 10 Gbps and higher is possible. Customers connect to the access
devices (PE routers), which are Brocade MLX-8 PE routers for GE connections
or Brocade MLXe-16 or MLXe-32 PE routers for 10GE or 100GE connections. To
provide greater resilience for 10/100GE access connections, these are terminated on a Glimmerglass photonic cross-connect (PXC). The PXC connects the
member router (at Layer 1) to one of the local PE routers. In case of issues or
maintenance, it moves this connection to a backup router.
TECHNICAL
remotely, engineers frequently make ‘on site’ visits to one of the eleven data
centres where the production switches are located. For our locations abroad,
we rely on local smart hands, provided by our partners and colocations.
16
17
Schematic view of the AMS-IX platform Layer 1
Equinix AM1/2
Telecity AMS2
Equinix AM1/2
EvoSwitch
Telecity AMS5
Core
Vancis
euNetworks
euNetworks
Telecity AMS5
The core of the network is split between the original core at euNetworks
and Global Switch and two sub-core routers at Equinix AM1/2 and Telecity
AMS5. The function of the sub-core is to aggregate traffic from the access
sites in the busy Amsterdam Southeast area (Telecity AMS2, AMS4 and AMS5
and Equinix AM1/2) and keep traffic between the access routers in this area
local. This reduces the load on the main core. Access routers are resiliently
connected to either the sub-core or the core routers. This ensures failing
links between access and core or the access and core routers themselves
won’t interrupt service for connected member and customer routers. Links
between the access routers and the (sub-)core are implemented as 100GE
LAGs (link aggregation). Alternatively, for the smaller edge switches, links
based on 10GE are used. At the end of the year more than hundred 100GE
inter-switch links, some of them aggregated, were in production.
Interxion AMS 5
Global Switch
Global Switch
Terremark
The figure on the next page shows the typical setup of an access site: one
MLXe-8 router for physical connections of (multiple) GE ports and a pair
of MLX-16 or MLX(e)-32 routers for 10GE and 100GE connections. These
high-speed connections are terminated on a Glimmerglass photonic cross
connect or PXC, which physically connects the customer port to one pair of
PE routers. This means each customer is physically allocated one resilient
pair of ports. In a number of locations, two access routers for low speed
connections or two pairs of access routers for 10 and 100GE connections are
installed, to handle the large number of connected networks.
TECHNICAL
Sub-Core
Equinix AM3
NIKHEF
Telecity AMS4
Typical setup of an AMS-IX customer access site
Brocade MLXe
1 GE PE
To Core
(P) routers
Brocade MLXe
10, 100 GE PE
To Core or
Sub-core
(P) routers
Brocade MLXe
10, 100 GE PE
To Core or
Sub-core
(P) routers
Remote IXs
The topologies for the exchange platforms in other parts of the world are
similar to the one in Amsterdam. The main difference is the number of access
sites. What is basic to each location is the use of a photonic cross connect
(PXC) and two PE switches for redundancy. Where there is only a single access
site there is no core switch.
Redundancy
As noted earlier, 10/100GE connections are not terminated directly on an
access device (PE router) but on a photonic cross connect (PXC). This PXC
connects the customer router at the physical level to one pair of PE routers.
We use this setup because the reliability of a PXC is orders of magnitude
higher than that of a PE router. In case of problems on a PE router, this setup
allows us to quickly - in typically 50 to 100ms -, fail over 10/100GE customer
connections from one PE router to another. Furthermore, when maintenance
on a PE router is necessary, customer connections on the affected PE router
can be moved to the other PE router, thereby minimizing service interruptions and maximizing flexibility for the AMS-IX staff.
During ‘normal’ operation, 10/100GE customer connections at a colocation
are distributed over the two 10/100GE PE routers. Logically, the connections
between each pair of access devices are implemented as 4 LSPs (label switched
paths), one over each core switch. VPLS traffic is then load-balanced over these
4 LSPs. For resilience, each LSP has a backup LSP defined over a core switch at
the other location. In case of a path failure, LSPs are automatically re-routed
to their backup path. In the extreme case a complete core site goes down and
both core routers at that site become unusable, the LSP between a pair of PE
routers have a predefined backup path over one of the other PE routers in the
other colocation. Failover from an LSP to its backup path typically takes less
than 50ms and has no impact on customer connections.
TECHNICAL
pxc
18
Historic traffic volume
25000
20000
15000
The aggregated traffic on all AMS-IX connected customer ports shows clear
growth, which is visible in the MRTG graph of 2014. The European May,
summer and Christmas holidays are unmistakable. The peak traffic rate on
the ISP VLAN, an industry standard 5-minute average, grew from 2547 Gbps
to 3374 Gbps in 2014, a growth of 32%. Total traffic volume over the year
grew by 29% compared to 2013. This is quite in line with global averages.
Overall, the growth rate of traffic on the Internet is declining. Compared to
developing regions, this rate is lower in mature economies such as Western
Europe and the US for global consumer web, email and data traffic (20132018) and consumer-managed IP traffic (2013-2018), as can be seen in Cisco’s
Visual Networking Index.3
10000
5000
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0
MRTG graph Internet peering VLAN 2014
Output
Again, IPv6 traffic grew considerably with a peak traffic rate of 23 Gbps in
2014 from 11 Gbps the year before. This means a growth of 48%. Mobile interconnect peak traffic rates increased up to 8.1 Gbps.
3.8 T
3.6 T
3.4 T
3.2 T
3.0 T
2.8 T
2.6 T
2.4 T
2.2 T
2.0 T
1.8 T
1.6 T
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petabyte
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petabyte
3
http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/service-provider/ip-ngn-ip-next-generation-network/
white_paper_c11-481360.pdf
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Bits per second
Peak 5 minute Output
TECHNICAL
Volume and Traffic Rate
The annual volume of data bilaterally exchanged between the connected
networks on the exchange in Amsterdam was 7.1 Exabyte, or 7100 Petabyte.
In MP3 songs encoded at an average bitrate, this would result in a 14 million-year playlist.1 On a day basis at the end of the year this was, on average,
almost 20 Petabyte day. This equals the storage of around 20 Avatar films for
the rendering of the 3D CGI effects.2
Tbyte /24 hours
Input
19
Customer port history
E
1200
FE
1000
GE
10GE
800
100GE
600
Total Ports
400
09
20
10
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200
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200
10Mbps
100Mbps
250Mbps
500Mbps
1000Mbps
1500Mbps
2000Mbps
2500Mbps
3000Mbps
3500Mbps
4000Mbps
4500Mbps
5000Mbps
9000Mbps
10000Mbps
20000Mbps
30000Mbps
40000Mbps
60000Mbps
80000Mbps
150
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20
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50
20
10
Since 2008, 10GE is the commodity of ports on the platform, and connections
of this type increased by 23% from 749 in 2013 to 921 in 2014. Following a
decrease in the growth of these ports in 2013, the growth increased again by
5% in the following year. Of the 100GE ports, 36 were live in 2014, compared
to 20 in 2013.
The number of virtual links, as offered by our resellers, increased by 70. The
most popular virtual link connection is the 1000 Megabits per second (Mbps).
We counted a total number of 138 at the end of the year. Take a look at the
graphs on distribution of port speeds and virtual links for more details.
Virtual connections
300
Ports & Connections
Amsterdam
The growth of our international IP interconnection marketplace in Amsterdam is also reflected in the capacity of the connected networks. The total
capacity of the operational customer connections increased by 35% from 9.6
Tbps in 2013 to 13 Tbps in 2014.
TECHNICAL
1400
20
Results of the remote platforms
Customers
Ports
Connected
capacity (Gb/s)
15
27
21
19
103
AMS-IX East Africa
Exchange Point
4
4
44
AMS-IX Bay Area
5
6
42
AMS-IX New York
7
8
70
AMS-IX Hong Kong
Ports
Ports per location (31/12/2014)
Remote IXs
The chart on the left gives you an idea what the port and connection results
are of the remote AMS-IX platforms.
Access Locations
Telecity AMS2 data centre has been the most dense AMS-IX data centre
location for customer access for many years, with NIKHEF being the runner-up. These data centres were two of the first AMS-IX colocations and have
the added attraction of a large internal marketplace.
All AMS-IX data centre locations comply with the AMS-IX data centre standard. An independent auditor, Capitoline, renewed the objective standard in
2012 based on prevalent industry norms, such as TIA-492 and the Uptime
Institute standards, albeit tuned to specific AMS-IX and networking customer
needs. Capitoline then performed an audit of compliance on all data centres
used by AMS-IX. Any new data centre to be added in future, becoming an
AMS-IX colocation, has to be audited against the standard. If the data centre
is compliant, it may use the branding on the left.
Research & Development
Any change, any software or hardware upgrade, or new service is extensively
tested in our own lab in the basement of our office building in Amsterdam
before going into production. Besides testing, reproduction and analysis of
bugs, customer requests and incidents, service features and monitoring tools
are performed here daily.
The collaborative research relationship that AMS-IX has with its vendors
has frequently been instrumental in coming up with new innovative solutions and breakthrough developments. We are a tough customer to please,
always at the cutting edge of technology, but ready to put a lot of effort and
brainpower into the equation and this inevitably pays off. We value these
reciprocal relationships highly.
TECHNICAL
11
AMS-IX Caribbean
21
Word from the CTO
For AMS-IX, 2014 will be remembered as one of those years in which
everything changed; expansion in the US, moving offices, a new
approach to project management and large-scale automation.
What may have changed most of all is the
scale on which we operate internationally.
We had already gained experience with our
exchange points in Curaçao and Hong Kong
and although the decision to expand to the
US had already been taken in 2013, the actual
implementation was done in 2014. Over the
course of the year, we implemented fully
operational Exchange Points in New York (4
sites), the San Francisco Bay Area and Chicago. The installed platforms in these regions
mimic the proven technology which has been
operational in Amsterdam for many years.
The platforms are managed from Amsterdam
but the customer portal, though separate
from the Amsterdam one, offers the same
functionality.
In addition, we installed the Exchange
platform in Mombasa, Kenya. Here, we are
operating the AMS-IX East Africa Exchange
point in cooperation with TESPOK, the Telecommunications Service Providers Association of Kenya.
In Amsterdam, we executed the work required to keep the AMS-IX platform up to
date; accommodated for 30% growth in
traffic and connected around 3.5 Tbps of
new customer capacity. Last but not least,
we moved offices from Westeinde to our new
location on Frederiksplein 42.
The introduction of Lean and Agile for project management at the beginning of 2014
was instrumental in helping us realise these
goals. We’d already had some experience
with this in our web development team, but
applying these techniques in implementation projects for new exchanges was new.
These projects encompassed installation of
physical infrastructure, web development,
adjustments to customer portals and procedures and interfaces with the NOC, member
relations and finance department. As it
turned out, this method of running projects
fits the AMS-IX environment very well. Furthermore, walls full of colourful stickies in
the stand-up rooms really look good in the
new office.
The last major effort we executed on was automation. The goal is to minimise the effort
required from the member relations and
NOC staff, specifically for repetitive tasks,
but also to minimise manual access to the
platform, thereby minimising human error.
Through the My.AMS-IX.net portal, functionality was made available for AMS-IX staff to
automatically provision new connections
on the platform, communicate information
to customers and automatically test these
new connections. Customers now also have
the possibility to change parameters of their
connection to the Exchange. For example,
they can change the MAC address of the
connected router and setup peering with the
route servers.
It is indisputable that the accomplishments
mentioned above required a tremendous
logistical and operational effort, providing
evidence of the dedication and efficiency of
the relatively small AMS-IX staff.
“ The introduction of Lean and
Agile for project management in the
beginning of 2014 was instrumental in
helping us realise our goals. ”
Henk Steenman
22
23
Services
Internet Peering VLAN – IPv4 & IPv6
Our flagship product, the Internet Peering VLAN, addresses over 90% of
the new network applications. This represents most of the 109 unique
AS numbers that have applied to this VLAN throughout the year. This is the
common service, where ‘public peering’ is carried out on a bilateral basis
between the connected parties.
Internet Peering is a non-blocking Ethernet-based unicast service, which supports both IPv4 and IPv6 natively. The service offers several interface types at
speeds of 1GE, 10GE and 100GE and multitudes of these in aggregation mode.
Any member using this service can view their overall live traffic (MRTG) and
specific AS to AS or IP to IP traffic (sFlow) on their dedicated My.AMS-IX portal.
Route Servers
An additional service to the Internet Peering VLAN is the use of route servers.
The purpose of route servers is to facilitate the implementation of peering
arrangements, and to lower the entry barrier for new participants on the
peering platform. Normally, a connected member needs to maintain separate
BGP sessions to each of their peers’ routers. With a route server, this can be
replaced for all or a subset of these sessions with one session towards each
route server. Peering policies can be maintained through filtering using the
RIPE or other registries’ databases.
Mobile Peering – GRX and IPX peering
AMS-IX offers the main mobile peering service worldwide, providing a
full-service, scalable GRX Peering Exchange for the interconnection of GPRS/
UMTS roaming networks and the new Inter-IPX service for next generation
mobile interconnection, such as LTE.
GRX Peering Amsterdam (also called GP-A in GSMA terms) was the first global
multi-party peering point for the mobile Internet. Two others followed (Ashburn USA and Singapore, both hosted by Equinix), even though Amsterdam
remains the largest. Currently, over 30 GRX operators exchange GPRS roaming traffic in Amsterdam. The GRX exchange facilitates global data roaming
for mobile end user customers and is a core component in enabling a truly
global mobile Internet.
Following the success of the GRX peering service, AMS-IX developed an Inter-IPX service, the first peering point for IPX providers worldwide. IPX is
the new generation interconnection service for mobile operators and solves
a number of its predecessor’s limitations, and not just for roaming but
including all IP-based services used on mobile devices. Parties that enable
LTE, interconnected through IPX providers are developing their services. It is
becoming the default operation for the future.
The Inter-IPX service by AMS-IX is a combination of the standard IX services
with added redundancy through distributed ports and an increased SLA
attached. It has specific reporting services on relevant KPIs as defined by the
industry’s standard bodies for IPX providers as well.
TECHNICAL
As mentioned earlier, 2014 was about expanding our services to other
locations in the world. The platforms built abroad in the previous months
are all modeled after AMS-IX in Amsterdam.
GRX traffic graph
Peak 5 minute Output
Input
The mobile peering traffic peak grew to 8 Gbps in 2014. Quite remarkable and
contrary to the dip in Internet traffic on the Internet peering service are the
peaks during summer, on Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve.
Output
Service Level Agreement (SLA)
In 2011, AMS-IX launched a carrier-grade SLA including provisioning, availability and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) as an additional service with any
port. We recognized the industry’s wish for more than a best-effort service.
Therefore, we chose to offer an optional service to any network that requires
greater certainty and assurance with regard to the level of service on their
peering setup.
7.0 G
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8.0 G
The SLA service includes service credits for non-delivery, unavailability or
under-performance of up to 100% of monthly connection fees. KPIs are continuously monitored and measured by probes in the monitoring platform.
AMS-IX additionally provides real-time statistics to the associated customers
and reports monthly on a number of key performance indicators (KPIs) of the
network. These include availability, packet loss, one-and-two-way delay and
delay variation or jitter.
A total number of 44 parties were using the SLA service at the end of 2014.
TECHNICAL
Peak 5 minute Input
24
Coming to America
We’re in the middle of nowhere. Driver Winston takes a sharp right
off the deserted road. There are no signs, just a driveway entrance
surrounded by trees and bushes. In the summer, this place must be very
green, but it’s winter now and the trees are bare. We stop before a huge
gate. There’s no intercom yet. A note pinned to the post explains we need
to phone the security desk.
After driving through the gate we see a tall
grey building emerging. This is DuPont Fabros Technology (DFT) in New Jersey, one of
the five data centres that make up our first
exchange in the United States. Claiming
DFT is impressive would be an understatement. Everything in this place is larger than
life. Our cabinets are so tall that ladders are
required to install the equipment.
As we drive back over the New Jersey Turnpike towards New York City, the famous
skyline slowly appears. Our next AMS-IX
New York location can be found in Manhattan, at the former New York Port Authority
building, between 8th and 9th Avenue.
This 1930s Art Deco building, which spans
an entire New York City block, has served
many purposes. Since the late 1980s it has
served as a carrier hotel. Nowadays, Google
owns the building, but it still houses many
varied tenants.
AMS-IX New York is present in one of the
facilities of those tenants: Digital Realty
(DLR). Our systems on these premises have
been operational since November 2013. No
half measures were taken here. We asked
for 72 fibre pairs between the distribution
panels and our equipment and DLR put
in double that number. That is more than
sufficient fibre to interconnect the many
networks present in this building. The big
challenge is reaching those networks, but
we will solve that together.
Our next stop is on the adjacent street, at
the 325 Hudson building. Like the old Port
Authority premises, the Hudson building is
situated right on top of the Hudson Street /
9th Avenue fibre highway
An armada of limousines, engines running,
waits outside for celebrities appearing on a
late night cable TV show, recorded in this
building. We’re not here for the celebrities
however. We are here to meet the guys managing the 325 Hudson meet-me-room. This
place is heaven on earth for cable neatness
freaks. Each cable is kept in place using a
technique called lacing, which has been
long forgotten in most places, but is insisted
on here. The results are stunning. This place
exudes craftsmanship and experience.
The next location is on the Lower East
Side, at Intergate.Manhattan. This high-rise
building, right next to the famous Brooklyn
Bridge, was originally built to house phone
switchboards, back in the days when these
were huge and power-hungry. Now, it has
been converted into a modern data centre
and technology building, affording an
amazing view from the 25th floor.
The heart of Manhattan with all its traffic
winding together is clearly visible, as are tall
ships in the harbour, and the magnificent
New York skyline. From there we also get
a good look to the West, where we’ve had
further adventures as installation engineers.
Yet another AMS-IX point of presence can be
found in Chicago, in the Lakeside Technology Center. We are also present in CoreSite’s
data centre in the Loop. The other exchange
was built in San Francisco, extending into
San Jose, right in the heart of Silicon Valley.
Building an Internet Exchange abroad is an
adventure and a lot of fun. Not always easy,
but definitely a valuable experience. The
amount of traffic we’re handling in the US
is still relatively limited, but will definitely
pick up in time. After all, we’re working in
awesome locations with fantastic people.
Ariën Vijn, Team Leader Engineering &
Research
25
All the disciplines within our commercial teams have one thing in
common: extreme customer focus. The Sales & Business Development
team’s responsibilities and tasks focus on attracting new customers
to the different exchange platforms and developing the relationships
with existing customers and partners. Communications & Events
utilises a variety of channels to communicate the value of our services
to (potential) customers, using consistent and unified messages,
while Customer Service interacts with customers to help them
with non-technical enquiries.
The commercial department consists of four distinct groups. Besides Sales &
Business Development, Customer Service and Communications & Events, the
department includes Regulatory & Public Affairs. Until recently, the person
responsible for this discipline reported directly to the Chief Executive Officer
(CEO). In 2014, the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) took over this responsibility from the CEO. As Regulatory & Public Affairs cooperate closely with
Communications, the management team decided both disciplines needed to
fall under the same manager.
Sales & Business Development
Amsterdam
2014 was a successful year for the Sales & Business Development team. For
the third year in a row, more than 100 new organisations connected to the
AMS-IX platform. As in previous years, our partners were instrumental to this
growth: 74% of our new members and customers came in through a partner,
compared to 68% in 2013.
Our top performing partners were Hibernia Networks (previously known as
Atrato IP Networks), Equinix, EvoSwitch, Hutchison Global Communications
(HGC) and IX Reach. They received the AMS-IX Gold Partner status, based on
their performance in 2013, which was valid throughout 2014. To further increase partner engagement and reward successful partners, AMS-IX introduced
an optimized partner program in 2013, introducing new partner levels: Gold
Partner, Silver Partner and Partner. To qualify as a Gold Partner, partners were
required to sell more than 14 new applications or 60GE (Gigabit Ethernet) of
new port capacity. To become Silver Partner, partners had to sell over 5 new
applications or 30GE of new port capacity. Every first month of the year, AMSIX reviews who will be qualified as an AMS-IX Gold or Silver Partner.
COMMERCIAL
Commercial
Developments
26
Fact
Five new
parties joined our
Partner Program
during 2014.
Five new parties joined our Partner Program during 2014. Their names are
Quanza Engineering, ReTN, Core-Backbone, Türk Telekom International,
Orange Polska. These parties further expand the geographical coverage and
bring new parties the opportunity to connect to the platform.
Hong Kong
Sales and first line customer service for AMS-IX Hong Kong became the joint
responsibility of AMS-IX and HGC. Up until the summer of 2014, only HGC
was responsible for these disciplines.
Asia was a new market for AMS-IX at the start in 2012. For this reason, AMS-IX
chose to work with a partner who was well established and active in the region. In the meantime, AMS-IX could focus on the platform in Amsterdam. By
assuming full responsibility for all operations of AMS-IX Hong Kong, AMS-IX
can coordinate all activities more closely, and as a result work more efficiently
and further grow the exchange as well as further develop the interconnection
market in the Hong Kong region.
United States
Our top-performing partner, IX Reach, became the first reseller for AMS-IX
New York in 2014. This partnership enables IX Reach to remotely connect
parties to peer at the exchange and enhance their IP service offering.
Uptake of customers at AMS-IX New York in 2014 was slower than expected.
The primary cause is the fragmented market in Manhattan and issues related
to building ownership and meet-me-room operators. To address this, AMS-IX
has entered into an agreement with Telx, the primary meet-me-room operator
in Manhattan, at the end of 2014. By having this agreement it provides easier
access for potential customers to the AMS-IX New York platform.
COMMERCIAL
Our top-performing
partner, IX Reach,
became the first
reseller for AMS-IX
New York in 2014.
27
28
Application process
Delivery time for new applications
(days from order form to port assignment)
200
100
The team operates under service level, aiming to answer 95% of requests (by
email) within one working day. The number of transactions under the service
level increased by 23% to 585 over 2014, compared to 44% in 2013 (to 474
transactions).
10
1
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010 2011 2012
2013
Median
2014
Average
As of 2014, delivery time is measured separately for new physical port and virtual link applications. The average delivery time for physical port applications
was 16 days, while virtual link applications through resellers took 7 days.
At the end of 2014 the decision was made to rename the team ‘Member Relations’ to ‘Customer Service’, as this better reflects the growing importance of
both Members and Customers.
Service Management
Service Management deals with the Service Level Agreement (SLA).
This service not only covers initial provisioning and daily availability of the
port but also the performance levels of key service parameters. It is a carrier-grade SLA, with service credits of up to 100% of the monthly fees upon
underperformance. At the end of 2014, a total of 119 ports included an SLA,
which is a 49% increase compared to 2013.
COMMERCIAL
Customer Service
The Customer Service team’s main activities are supporting existing non-technical requests from members, customers and partners, and taking care of
contract administration and order processing. They have been doing this for
seven Internet Exchanges since the end of 2014. Besides supporting AMS-IX in
Amsterdam, AMS-IX Caribbean, AMS-IX Hong Kong and the AMS-IX East Africa
Exchange Point, the team has been contracted by AMS-IX USA Inc. to assist
with AMS-IX New York, AMS-IX Bay Area and AMS-IX Chicago.
First of all, we created our 20th Anniversary Book, in which the management,
former board executives, business relations and other parties shared their
views on 20 years of AMS-IX. The first copy of the book was presented to the
mayor of Amsterdam at our annual MORE-IP event in May.
Increasingly, AMS-IX is fulfilling the role of Internet specialist, explaining the
Internet and the role of an Internet Exchange to external parties. In order to
have a paper handout to present during interviews or at events, we produced
an elaborate infographic.
In the second half of 2014 we embarked on our quest to find a new PR agency. We decided, after having worked with the same agency for 10 years, the
time had come to bring in some fresh perspectives. We ultimately selected
Bex*communicatie to support us as of January 1, 2015.
In addition to this, we issued numerous press releases and interviews concerning our US expansions and growth results, put together joint partner
flyers and wrote a social media plan.
Events
Events are crucial in meeting (potential) members and customers and bringing them together to stimulate the flow of bits and bytes over the exchange.
Every year, we co-organize the annual European Peering Forum (EPF) and
the Global Peering Forum (GPF). AMS-IX staff also attends numerous other
events. Alongside the events we visit on a regular basis, such as the Pacific
Telecommunications Council (PTC) and the Capacity events, we attended the
technical conferences NANOG, RIPE and APRICOT in 2014. New events on
our calendar were Peering Day in Vienna, Austria and Game Connection in
Paris, France.
We celebrated our 20th anniversary in 2014. During our MORE-IP event, held
on May 21 and 22, we used this opportunity to look back at our past achievements and the Internet’s history in general. However, the event also dedicated
sufficient time to current and future Internet developments, such as cloud
and security issues.
Once again, the event was organised at Pakhuis de Zwijger in Amsterdam.
This historic warehouse along the IJ remains the perfect location for combining presentations with networking time.
With some 200 attendees, a magnificent performance by astronaut André
Kuipers and a short visit from the Mayor of Amsterdam, Eberhard van der
Laan, to receive the first copy of the AMS-IX’s 20th Anniversary Book from
CEO Job Witteman, the 4th MORE-IP event was undeniably a great success.
East Africa
To officially launch the AMS-IX East Africa Exchange Point, we planned a
launch event during the AfPIF event in Dakar, Senegal in August 2014. However, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and the risk posed by travelling to this
region led us to take the difficult decision to cancel the event.
United States
Following the recent deployment of AMS-IX New York, AMS-IX Bay Area and
AMS-IX Chicago, the commercial department organised three launch events.
COMMERCIAL
PR and Communications
2014 was a very busy & exciting year from a PR & Communications point of
view. To give you an idea, we will present several highlights.
29
30
United States
To introduce and promote deployment of the AMS-IX USA Inc., AMS-IX New
York, AMS-IX Bay Area and AMS-IX Chicago, it was decided this entity also
needed to sponsor events. In 2014, the AMS-IX USA Inc. sponsored Capacity
North America and CHI-NOG.
The ‘official’ launch of AMS-IX Bay Area was held together with Digital Realty
in their 365 Main Street facility in San Francisco on a sunny day in September. This event attracted around 150 attendees, including many (potential)
customers and press.
Pricing and Promotion
The AMS-IX price strategy is based on the AMS-IX Limited Company being
owned by the Association and therefore defined on the basis of cost and
continuity. The Company may deviate from this after consultation with the
members. However, there are other reasons to change (decrease) prices, such
as member expectations or market developments.
Last but not least, the launch event of our exchange platform took place at
the Chicago Board of Trade Building in October. This was done in cooperation
with CME Group and took place just before CHI-NOG, the only Chicago-based
Network Operators Group. Ariën Vijn, our team leader and installation engineer, gave a presentation about our technical implementation experiences
in the US at this group event.
Sponsoring
Sponsoring of events and projects allows AMS-IX to support Internet progress,
attract attention to the AMS-IX brand and maintain a good relationship with
the entire (Dutch) Internet community. On an annual basis, AMS-IX sponsors
the Dutch ISP kart competition, the ISOC New Year’s get-together, one or
more RIPE and LACNIC events, the African Peering Forum (AfPIF) and Capacity
Europe. Sponsorship of other events during the year was reviewed on a caseby-case basis, as events had to fit the AMS-IX philosophy and requirements.
In 2013, we were able to decrease the 10GE and 100GE port prices strongly,
by 33% and 44% respectively. The same prices were maintained during 2014.
COMMERCIAL
We kicked off with the AMS-IX New York launch event at the three-masted
clipper ‘Stad Amsterdam’ in April. Our customers and partners joined us
on this historic vessel to welcome the first neutral, distributed and Open-IX
certified Internet Exchange to open its doors in the New York/New Jersey
metropolitan area.
Streamlining Processes,
Building the Business
In the 2012 annual report, I reported we had begun to integrate order
workflow in My.AMS-IX and automate the provisioning process from
there. When automating an existing process, it is vital to first carefully
document steps taken to get from A to B. At AMS-IX, the ordering and
provisioning path involves several departments: Sales, Customer Service,
Technical and Billing. Each has its own focus and terminology.
The process had grown more or less organically from an original
situation with two departments (contractual and technical), with an
emphasis on flexibility, so it did not really come as a surprise that we
encountered inefficiencies and ambiguities throughout the chain.
We had to make a choice: try to automate
the existing processes, or take this opportunity to make a clean sweep and remove
the cobwebs? Rather than hiding the fuzzy
bits under the carpet and having the software make educated guesses, we took the
latter approach. In 2014, a project group
consisting of representatives from each department took on the task of documenting,
reviewing, and restructuring ordering and
provisioning. Over the course of six months,
they incrementally standardised and sanitised this entire process, resulting in much
clearer, more granular tracking of the order
process in My.AMS-IX. I believe this is just
the beginning, as the organisation and business will continue to change, but looking at
what has been achieved this past year, I am
confident we can take this on board.
Let’s not forget that we also built three new
exchanges in 2014, bringing the total to seven exchange points in five countries, spread
over more than twenty data centres. In the
grand scheme of things this may not seem
so impressive. There are many businesses
in this industry with a much larger global
footprint and bigger installations. However,
we managed to achieve this with a staff of
fewer than 50.
Our success in building all of this stems, in
part, from previous experiences. We standardised our design, making it as modular as
possible. As a result, the implementations
appear like variations on a theme. This allowed us to automate various common steps
in the initial configuration process. For the
platform switches, we already had the tools
to generate configurations. For computer
systems, combining virtualisation with the
use of Puppet meant we could greatly reduce the amount of time and work required
to set up new infrastructure and ensure
consistency among installations.
Building infrastructure is one thing, maintaining and operating it is quite another.
Many of the software tools that we use to
build the infrastructure are also used to
maintain it. Those tools must be sufficiently
robust for daily use in production systems.
Over the past years, we realised a more
formalised Quality Assurance (QA) for our
software tools was necessary. While My.AMSIX already uses continuous integration and
a development/staging/production division,
we had no formalised environment for
the other tools, until recently. In 2014, we
restructured the lab environment so we can
test the entire provisioning process from
front to back. We also expanded our team
with an additional software developer who
made a start with continuous integration for
our Perl tools. There is still a great deal to be
done, but I have confidence in our people,
and I believe 2015 will be a year in which we
continue to grow, develop and mature.
Steven Bakker, Teamleader System
Development & Operations
31
Over the past two years, AMS-IX has continued to expand rapidly and
now, we feel the time has come to consolidate. In 2015, we will mainly
focus on the existing AMS-IX platforms that we have built. This means
actively targeting and adding new customers, and strengthening the
position of these platforms.
General Developments
Google’s Sylvie LaPerrière will be completing her first term as Chairwoman
of the Board, at the end of 2015. During the upcoming General Meeting (GM),
she will be putting herself forward for re-election. The AMS-IX Association
members will have the opportunity to vote and decide whether she will be
re-elected for a second three-year term.
The new AMS-IX Company office has proven to be a perfect location for General Meetings and will, therefore, be the location for GM43. Furthermore, to
provide support to our commercial team, including Sales, Customer Service
and Marketing, the role of Marketing & Sales Assistant will be added during
2015.
A closer look at AMS-IX USA Inc.
Based on the current outlook it will take at least two more years until AMSIX USA Inc. can fully sustain itself from customer-derived revenue. In the
meantime, any additional costs will be borne by AMS-IX B.V. This situation
has been previously communicated to the members and is actively reviewed
on an ongoing basis.
AMS-IX USA Inc. has recruited a Business Development Manager located in
the United States. As of April 1, he has been helping our sales team in the
Netherlands conceive and execute industry-focused sales and business development strategies. There are two main drivers for hiring a US-based sales
professional experienced in the Internet and/or IP interconnection market.
He is highly familiar with the US Internet market and doesn’t need to factor
in significant time differences.
OUTLOOK 2015
Outlook for
2015 and
Beyond
32
Amsterdam
Expansion of the AMS-IX Amsterdam platform in 2015 encompasses the addition of more backbone links between access routers and the core as well as
more 10GE and 100GE customer facing ports.
Looking at the historical traffic volume graphs, we can expect Internet traffic
on the AMS-IX platform in Amsterdam to grow by around 30% in the coming year. This is more than Cisco predicts in its Visual Networking Index for
global Internet traffic. According to this index, overall IP traffic will grow at a
compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21% from 2013 to 2018. The volume
of traffic exchanged between IP networks connected at AMS-IX is forecast at
approximately 8 Exabytes of data during 2015.
The growth rate of customer connections has always been linear and not,
like the increase in traffic, exponential. The number of GE-based connections
has remained more or less stable since 2011. The number of 10GE and 100GEbased connections grew in 2014 and, for the first time, the total capacity
of new 100GE-based connections was almost equal to the capacity in new
10GE-based connections. For 2015, we expect this trend to continue. Owing to
the success of the AMS-IX Partner Program, the number of virtual connections
will also continue to increase, both in number as in size.
United States & Hong Kong
Besides the already communicated expansions within Telx’s NYC2 data centre
facility at 111 8th Avenue, in CoreSite’s CH1 data centre and in DFT’s Chicago
2 (CH2) data centre, no further expansion is currently planned for the US.
However, if an opportunity arises which could bring value to our members/
customers we will take this into serious consideration. This also applies to
AMS-IX Hong Kong.
Following the launch of AMS-IX New York at the end of 2013, customer
uptake has been slower than expected. Primary causes are the fragmented
Manhattan market and issues related to building ownership and meet-meroom operators. To address this, AMS-IX entered into an agreement with Telx,
the primary meet-me-room operator in Manhattan, at the end of 2014. The
agreement provides easier access for potential customers, which is expected
to result in stronger growth of traffic and connections than seen during 2014.
Expansion of the Inter-IPX service
In 2011, AMS-IX was the first Internet Exchange to introduce the Inter-IPX
service. This provides a platform where regional and neighbouring IPX network operators can efficiently link to each other, cover a wider territory, and
increase content and volume. The Inter-IPX service complies with the high
quality standards defined by GSMA and includes a specific Inter-IPX SLA.
After previously being introduced at AMS-IX Caribbean and AMS-IX Hong
Kong, the Inter-IPX service will also be offered at the AMS-IX platforms in the
United States and the AMS-IX East Africa Exchange Point.
Revamping My.AMS-IX
In 2014, the order process in My.AMS-IX was redesigned. In the coming
months, AMS-IX will focus on further improving the customer portal service.
One of the areas on which AMS-IX will be focusing is the improvement and
redesign of forms required for placing orders and requesting modifications.
OUTLOOK 2015
Technology & Services
33
34
Customer Service
At the end of 2014, the department formerly known as Member Relations has
been renamed and is now called Customer Service. The new name is a better
match, due to the presence of both customers and members at AMS-IX and the
department’s strong involvement in improving the customer portal My.AMS-IX.
The number of requests Customer Service handles has been continuously
increasing year on year, while the delivery time for completing these requests
has decreased. The Customer Service team will be facing a challenging task in
improving efficiency whilst the volume of transactions is expected to increase
further. The improvements being made to the My.AMS-IX customer portal will
certainly help facilitate this.
Sales and Business Development
Growth has always been the primary goal of the AMS-IX limited Company.
Continuous expansion is one of the key elements that defines the value of
an exchange. ‘Growth’ refers first and foremost to an increase in the number
of connected parties, along with associated growth in customer ports, traffic
rate, volume and routes. For 2015, this means Sales and Business Development will focus on developing markets, such as Africa and Latin America,
and the growing mobile and cloud segments. Together with the launch of
the Inter-IPX service at other AMS-IX exchanges, the mobile data market will
also be receiving considerable attention.
Over the previous years, the number of new customers arriving through indirect channels has continuously increased to 74% during 2014. For 2015, we
predict that a similar amount will connect to AMS-IX through the reseller and
partner programs. The resellers target smaller parties with connection speeds
of multiples of 100Mbps and 1000Mbps. Thanks to the lower entry threshold
it can bring interesting parties from more remote parts of the world to AMSIX in Amsterdam.
Hong Kong, Caribbean and East Africa
As sales and first line customer service for AMS-IX Hong Kong are now both
the responsibility of AMS-IX and HGC, we expect to connect more customers
to this exchange platform.
The schedule of the sales team for 2015 also includes making focussed efforts
with AMS-IX Caribbean and the AMS-IX East Africa Exchange Point. By visiting
events in these regions, including LACNIC and AfPIF, and working together
with local partners, we hope to realise continued positive results.
United States
Sales and Business Development will be placing a great deal of attention on
the United States. PoPs have been added to Telx’s NYC2 and CoreSite CH1
facilities, which have a high potential customer density, and a US-based sales
professional has been added to the team. We expect to see more customers
connect to the AMS-IX US exchanges than in 2014 now that we are fully operational in three markets.
PR and Communications
AMS-IX is home to an enormous amount of knowledge regarding Internet
Exchanges, peering, networking, digital infrastructure and the Internet in
general. Utilising this more frequently in our external communications will
contribute to further improving our external reputation.
OUTLOOK 2015
Commercial Developments
For the first time, AMS-IX will no longer be printing its annual report. AMS-IX
has chosen to present its highlights in a clear and captivating overview online
and by providing a PDF for members, customers and other business relations
to download.
In 2015, internal communications will remain high on the agenda. To improve communications between different departments as well as the accessibility of general employee information and applications, AMS-IX will select
and implement an intranet system.
Events
AMS-IX continues to organise and attend a variety of regularly recurring
events such as the EPFs and GPFs as well as more commercial events. This
combination has proven to be very valuable in terms of developing excellent
new opportunities. Technical events, such as RIPE and NANOG, are also on
the events calendar. These meetings are important experience and knowledge
sharing platforms for our technical staff but also provide an opportunity to
learn from others in the interconnection market.
The MORE-IP event, organised by AMS-IX, is entering its fifth year. MORE-IP
2015 will be held at Pakhuis de Zwijger in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, for
the third consecutive year. The theme of this year’s event is ‘Building the
Internet Together: The Power of Partnerships and Collaboration’. This harks
back to the founding principles of the Internet. Presentations and panel
discussions will cover a wide range of issues related to this theme, including
challenges for partnerships and successful collaboration practices.
Following the success of MORE-IP in Amsterdam, we have decided to organise
MORE-IP events in the US and Hong Kong. In doing this, we aim to bring together (potential) customers and partners of the AMS-IX exchanges, extensively familiarize them with the AMS-IX brand and discuss trends and demands
within the Internet industry and IP interconnection in these market.
Sponsoring
To further support sales activities and commercial conference attendances,
we have included a number of accompanying sponsorships. As AMS-IX
sponsoring is aimed at a very specific audience, AMS-IX will exclusively support events that have already brought results in the areas of branding and
commercial access. In addition, to support our partners, we will continue to
co-sponsor events and conferences, or sponsor meetings organised by these
partners.
For the Good of the Internet Projects
Sharing and spreading our knowledge and experience for the Good of the
Internet is embedded in the AMS-IX culture. In previous years, we helped or
supported (emerging) exchanges around the world in accordance with our
model and values. We also supplied sponsored ports to parties and donated
switches to IXPs. In addition to this, we shared our knowledge and experience
and made our lab facilities available for the training of foreign exchange staff.
OUTLOOK 2015
Besides remaining focused on reputation management, joint partner communications and PR opportunities in the regions in which AMS-IX has begun to
operate, attention will also be paid to developing strategies for crisis communications and issue management.
35
2014 Developments
AMS-IX continued it’s international expansion during 2014. Following the
Points-of-Presence (PoPs) in New York and New Jersey, which were established
in early 2014, we expanded our presence in the US by launching AMS-IX Bay
Area and AMS-IX Chicago. In addition to these activities, the AMS-IX Company
relocated to a new office at Frederiksplein 42 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
These developments, together with an impairment of fixed assets and
increase of financial expenses, had an impact on our financial statements,
leading to a financial loss for the year 2014. The strong capital reserves which
AMS-IX has built up, however, absorb this loss. Based on the current forecasts
the Company expects to be profitable again during 2016.
The primary reasons for this loss are, in more detail, as follows. The start-up
costs for the US operations are, as with any new business, a requirement for
initial investment. The setup of the new sites has now been completed and
no major investments are foreseen for the US in 2015. Costs related to the
new office include the relocation and outfitting of the new office as well
as early termination costs of the previous leased office space. Furthermore,
technical developments led to an impairment (additional depreciation) of
fixed assets in 2014. And because of lease commitments, AMS-IX had more
financial expenses compared to previous years.
Most of the above has been previously communicated to members on a number of occasions during 2013 and 2014. Overall, the business continues to
grow at above market rates and is still adequately funded.
FINANCIAL
Summary of
Accounts
36
37
As presented in the LTCS 2014-2017 and agreed upon by our members in the
General Meeting 39, held in May 2014, the investments and price decrease
would result in a forecasted financial loss. The consolidated net result is a loss
of approximately EUR 2.3 million.
Financial Statements
In 2013, we were able to decrease the 10GE and 100GE customer port pricing
by 33% and 44% respectively. The growth of customers and ports in 2014,
however, was more than sufficient to compensate for this effect and to exceed
the level of gross revenue compared to 2013. The revenue increased by EUR
890 thousand (+6,5%) to approximately EUR 14.5 million. The net revenue,
compared to 2013, decreased by EUR 76 thousand to approximately EUR 11
million. The external operating cost increased by 39% to some EUR 3.4 million, caused primarily by the start-up costs in the US.
The investments in tangible fixed assets amounting to EUR 12.2 million (2013:
8.3) were financed through cash generated by operating activities and an
increase of lease commitments.
Even though AMS-IX expanded its operations considerably in 2014,
the number of employees decreased from 47 to 46 persons (43.5 to 43 FTE).
This decrease is not reflected in the personnel cost which increased overall
by 10.7% to EUR 4.1 million.
With a total investment in 2014 of EUR 12.2 million (+46%) the depreciation
cost comes to a total of approximately EUR 7.2 million, an increase of 31.4%
compared to 2013. This cost includes the aforementioned impairment on
fixed assets.
Other operational costs increased by 40% from close to EUR 1.2 million in
2013 to EUR 1.6 million, mainly caused by the higher costs of the new office
building.
Result Appropriation
The net negative result of approximately EUR 2.3 million for the year 2014
is taken entirely from the general reserve, which is included in the financial
statements. AMS-IX expects to be profitable again in 2016.
FINANCIAL
In the years 2015-2017, AMS-IX will return to a positive cash flow as its overall
cash position will increase. The next price reductions are forecast to take
place during 2016 once again delivering additional value to our members
and customers.
38
Key Figures AMS-IX (x EURO)
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
Consolidated*
Consolidated*
Net revenues
11.014.714
11.091.056
10.911.802
10.497.298
8.545.670
8.842.102
7.202.937
5.545.045
4.972.589
3.876.172
3.144.793
Income before depreciation
4.083.302
5.398.247
6.199.944
6.431.365
4.964.798
5.932.072
4.633.065
2.918.609
2.730.973
1.906.359
1.529.119
Depreciation of fixed assets**
7.197.672
5.473.587
4.965.290
4.100.478
3.317.504
2.379.812
1.696.221
977.170
1.543.346
1.085.786
727.515
Income before taxes
-3.114.370
-75.340
1.234.654
2.330.887
1.647.294
3.552.260
2.936.844
1.941.439
1.187.627
820.573
801.604
Net result
-2.313.637
-51.058
933.723
1.756.219
1.236.473
2.655.837
2.201.827
1.447.107
835.836
562.995
525.717
Cash generated by operating
3.069.558
6.418.143
6.752.811
6.097.134
5.440.844
5.475.442
3.354.267
3.191.980
2.508.632
1.297.840
1.282.287
12.205.791
8.339.311
6.573.029
4.980.161
5.736.431
5.807.069
2.591.589
3.841.129
2.039.623
1.591.755
1.113.764
11.230.486
13.745.095
13.796.153 12.862.430
11.106.211
9.869.739
7.213.902
5.012.076
3.564.969
2.729.133
2.166.138
2.783.412
4.043.436
2.307.053
2.116.590
990.986
1.282.372
990.604
224.253
647.686
232.677
526.592
43
44
37
29
24
22
22
21
19
16
14
Members (31/12)
448
444
443
437
388
349
317
290
253
234
211
Customers (31/12)
256
173
101
32
-
-
-
-
-
1.247
1.007
958
835
694
609
547
469
406
365
313
305
235
165
73
-
-
-
and taxes
activities
Investments in tangible fixed
assets
Capital and reserves (equity)
Cash and cash equivalents
(31/12)
Full time equivalents
(average)
Physical ports (31/12)
Virtual links (31/12)
* Since 2013, the AMS-IX USA Inc. is included in the figures
** In the year 2007 the depreciation rate for the switchpark changed from 33,3% to 20%
FINANCIAL
2014
Consolidated Cash Flow Summary (x EURO)
Consolidated Profit and Loss Account (x EURO)
Cash Flow Operating Activities
Net profit
2014
2013
14.462.708
13.570.317
External operating costs
3.447.994
2.479.261
Net Revenues
11.014.714
11.091.056
2013
Revenues
-2.313.637
-51.058
Depreciation of fixed assets
7.197.672
5.473.587
Cash flow
4.884.035
5.422.529
Other operating costs
Changes in working capital
Personnel costs
4.133.660
3.732.049
Short-term receivables
-722.897
690.209
Depreciation fixed assets
7.197.672
5.473.587
Non-current liabilities
-748.301
-685.599
Other operational costs
1.613.971
1.154.232
Short-term liabilities
-343.279
991.004
Marketing cost
920.350
799.901
Total
-1.814.477
995.614
Total operating costs
13.865.653
11.159.769
Cash generated by operating activities
3.069.558
6.418.143
NET OPERATING INCOME
-2.850.939
-68.713
-263.431
-6.627
-3.114.370
-75.340
-800.733
-24.282
-2.313.637
-51.058
Purchase of tangible fixed assets
Disposals (book value)
Financial lease
-5.463.230
4.043.047
288.338
-22.659
1.046.282
-661.372
Result before taxes
(net cash used in investing activities)
Other movements in equity
Increase in cash and cash equivalents
Financial results
-200.972
-1.260.024
Taxes
1.736.383
NET RESULT
Cash and cash equivalents at Jan 1
4.043.436
2.307.053
Cash and cash equivalents at Dec 31
2.783.412
4.043.436
FINANCIAL
2014
39
40
Consolidated Balance Sheet as of December 31 (x EURO)
After result appropriation
2014
2013
Consolidated
Consolidated
ASSETS
Fixed assets
Switch Park
20.843.896
70.211
Furniture
152.104
181.606
Fixture
331.304
75.170
Fixed assets
0
21.514.699
Group companies
16.794.918
0
Subtotal
Current assets
0
0
Debtors
443.643
Taxes
473.358
2.649
Other receivables and prepaid xpenses
432.228
473.565
Cash and cash equivalents
FINANCIAL
112.225
Other
Financial fixed assets
16.543.101
Computer equipment
150.118
2.783.412
4.043.436
Current assets
4.132.641
4.669.768
TOTAL ASSETS
25.647.340
21.464.686
LIABILITIES
Capital and reserves
Issued share capital
Share premium reserve
Translation reserve
Other reserves
41.500
41.500
385.779
385.779
-200.972
11.004.179
Shareholder's equity
Provisions
Deferred tax liabilities
Other provisions
Long-term liabilities
Lease commitments
Creditors
13.745.095
501.811
1.139.577
0
110.535
7.554.991
Non-current liabilities
Current liabilities
13.317.816
11.230.486
1.947.487
8.056.802
3.197.599
469.840
621.973
Taxes and social security premiums
1.150.818
1.426.022
Other payables
4.739.394
Current liabilities
TOTAL LIABILITIES
2.473.997
6.360.052
25.647.340
4.521.992
21.464.686
The accompanying Summary of Accounts (2014 Developments,
Financial Statements, Key Figures, Consolidated Cash Flow Summary,
Consolidated Profit and Loss Account and Consolidated Balance Sheet
as of December 31), as presented on page 36 to page 40 of this report is
taken from the financial statements for the year ending 31st of December
2014 of Amsterdam Internet Exchange B.V. in Amsterdam. We have
issued an unqualified independent auditor’s report dated March 26,
2015 on these financial statements.
The Summary of Accounts does not contain all the disclosures required for
full annual accounts according to Part 9 of Book 2 of the Dutch Civil Code.
Therefore, reading the Summary of Accounts is not a substitute for reading
the audited financial statements.
Management’s Responsibility
Management is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of the
Summary of Accounts in accordance with the applied criteria.
Auditor’s Responsibility
Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Summary of Accounts
based on our audit. We conducted our audit in accordance with applicable
law, including the Standard 810 on ‘Engagements to report on summary
financial information’.
Opinion with Respect to the Summary of Accounts
In our opinion, the Summary of Accounts in all material aspects is consistent
with the financial statements for the year ending 31st of December 2014 of
Amsterdam Internet Exchange B.V. in Amsterdam, on which we have issued
an unqualified independent auditor’s report dated March 26, 2015.
Zaandam, May 2015
Vork en van Prooijen B.V.
C. van Prooijen RA
FINANCIAL
Auditor’s
Report on the
Summary of
Accounts
41
Amsterdam Internet Exchange
Frederiksplein 42
1017 XN
Amsterdam
The Netherlands
info@ams-ix.net
T +31 (0) 20 305 89 99
www.ams-ix.net
Text
John Edwards, Pauline Hartsuiker
Concept & Design
Link Design, Amsterdam
Photography
Dik Nicolai
Special thanks to
Mark Cooper, Petra Wensing
Copyright © 2015 AMS-IX
42
43
AMS-IX
List of
new members
and customers
‘14
Advania hf. IS Adylnet Telecom BR ANEXIA Internetdienstleistungs GmbH AT Apple
Benelux B.V. US Art of Automation B.V. NL Arvato Systems Gmbh DE Beyond.pl Sp.
z.o.o. PL Black Lotus US Blacknight Internet Solutions Ltd IE Blix Solutions AS NO
Blizzard Entertainment US Bulgartel BG Cesena Net Srl IT China Mobile International (UK) Ltd HK Cisco Systems, Inc. US ColocationIX DE Commercial Network Services US COMPLETEL LTD RU Conostix LU Coolhousing CZ Crosspoint Colocation Ltd
UK Curacao Cable TV N.V. CW CYTA CY Dancom LTD RU Decision Marketing OOD
BG Deltaweb SpAIT DEVCLIC SARL FR DigitalOcean US E-Liance FR EBONYHORIZON - TELECOMUNI PT EDX Network FR Equinix SVC US Excellent Hosting AB SE
FastReturn, Inc. US Fiberax Networking & Cloud LTD UK Gelderland Internet Exchange NL Gemnet LLC MN Global Communication Net (GCN) BG GooMobile srlIT
Gulfnet KW H3G SpA IT Host Palace Internet ServicesIN Hotel Reservation System
Robert Ragge GmbH DE HOTNET Internet Services Ltd. IL Incapsula Inc. US Integra
Telecom Inc. US InternetOne IT IP Route Srl IT IPSet SARL FR KeenSystems B.V. NL
Keycom PLC UK Koding, Inc. US Lepida Spa IT Liquid Telecommunications Ltd MU
LLC “Voila-Cable” UA LLC Equant RU LLHost Inc. LV MainOne NG Maxpoint Interactive UK, Ltd. UK MediaMath US Metroset Ltd.RU Mobile Telecommunications Ltd
NA MULTINET 24 Sp. Z.o.o. PL Navaho FR Net by Net Holding LLC RU Net365 UK
Netcup Gmbh DE Netwerkvereniging Coloclue NL Newsoo FR next layer GmbH AT
Nexus Srl IT NS Groep N.V. NL Omni Access Marine Network Solutions ES OnLive US
OpenIT GmbH DE Opteamax GmbH DE Orange Polska S.A. PL OREOL LLC RU OSSO
BV NL Postecom IT Private Layer Inc. CH Progretto 8 Srl IT Pulsepoint B.V. US Quality
Service Provider B.V. NL recast IT DE Redder Telco, Srl IT Rezopole FR Riot Games
LTD US ScaleUp Technologies GmbH & Co. KG DE Sentia B.V. NL ServerChoice UK
ServiceNow NL SETAR N.V. AW Shenzhen WE-Trans CN Sipartech FR Sofia Connect
BG Sony Online Entertainment US Stel Srl IT Stella Telecom FR süc // dacor GmbH
DE Tango S.A. LU Telecom Egypt EG Threatmetrix US Transaction Network Services
US Weritech NL Wiericke B.V. NL X Plus One US Zenovia Digital Exchange, Corp. US
Ziron (UK) Ltd UK
AMS-IX HONG KONG
CloudFlare, Inc US Super Broadband Network Co., Ltd. TH CNS KBT Co. Ltd TW
AMS-IX EAST AFRICA
Google Inc. US JAMII TELECOMMUNICATION LIMITED KE SAFARICOM KE
SEACOM Ltd MU
AMS-IX NEW YORK
Datagram US Akamai Technologies, Inc. US LAYER42.NET, Inc. US Netflix US
Tumblr US Twitter, Inc. US
AMS-IX BAY AREA
GoGrid US LAYER42.NET, Inc. US Monkey Inferno US Unwired US Vocus
Communications AU Webpass US
2014
Annual Report
Amsterdam Internet Exchange | Frederiksplein 42 | 1017 XN | Amsterdam - The Netherlands
pr@ams-ix.net | T +31 (0) 20 305 89 99 | www.ams-ix.net

PDF - Amsterdam Internet Exchange

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