CEO Peter van Burgel reflects on 2024
The year 2024 marked a pivotal moment in AMS-IX’s history as we celebrated our 30th anniversary as a leading connectivity platform, a milestone achieved amid a whirlwind of global technological shifts, political tensions, and rapidly evolving regulations. Over these three decades, we have connected tech companies, governments, and institutions through a resilient, scalable network, transforming what began as a technical initiative into a strategic foundation. As the internet becomes increasingly vital in today’s competitive geopolitical and economic landscape, we remain committed to our mission: a better society through a better internet that is reliable, safe and open to everyone.
Despite the complex external environment, we delivered outstanding operational results in 2024 with net revenue at €24,9 million, up 3% and EBIT at €1,7 million up 46% compared to 2023. The operational result for 2024 was strong because of the increase in net revenue and a significant decrease of operational cost, combined with the release of accruals that were no longer required. The result was negatively impacted by an increase in amortization on the back of the earlier than expected completion of the Juniper migration, an increase in tax expenses and a small increase in personnel costs.
One of our major milestones was the successful completion of the Juniper migration — a full-scale renewal of our core network platform. For our clients and members, the transition was nearly seamless. Behind the scenes, it reflected months of preparation, coordination, and engineering excellence. The benefits are tangible: increased network stability, enhanced uptime, stronger security, and significantly lower operational costs as well as impressive power savings. These improvements enable us to roll out services faster, more securely, and more sustainably than ever before.
As we focus on operational excellence, we also remain committed to financial resilience. We are confident that the strong operational foundation we have built will translate into continued growth. We remain focused on optimizing our financial performance, as demonstrated by our careful strategic investments in technology and talent.
With almost 80% of our customers based abroad, we are central to positioning Amsterdam as a global business hub. As a crucial part of the Netherlands’ third mainport — alongside Rotterdam’s harbor and Schiphol Airport — our high-quality connectivity attracts international investments, reinforcing the Netherlands as Europe’s digital gateway. In the Netherlands, customer growth has stabilized, yet data volumes continue to climb. We reached 3 traffic peaks with the last one on 1 December 2024, where we reached a new peak traffic record of 14 terabits per second — illustrating the ever-increasing importance of our infrastructure. Internationally, our global footprint continues to grow, even as regional differences become more visible. We are investing heavily in emerging markets across the Middle East, Africa, and South-East Asia. While these regions present unique challenges, they also offer tremendous potential for positive impact.
In 2024, we:
These initiatives illustrate and underscore our ambition to play a central role in shaping the future of global internet infrastructure.
We also made significant progress internally. The streamlining of our organization has made us more agile, without compromising on operational excellence. People remain our most valuable asset — hence our investments in leadership, learning, and collaboration.
Sustainability is no longer an optional agenda item; it is embedded in our strategy. Our upgraded network infrastructure consumes less energy, and we are planning a new energy-efficient headquarters, with specifications finalized in 2024. We have also started looking at ways to make our operations smarter and more efficient, with an eye toward both cost-effectiveness and reducing our environmental impact. Although the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) does not yet apply directly to us, we are aware of its implications and take the underlying principles seriously in how we approach our business operations.
2024 was undoubtedly the year of the AI breakthrough, with significant advancements driven by smarter architectures, improved training methods, and powerful new hardware. Generative models are making AI faster, more efficient, and more accessible than ever before.
This surge coincided with geopolitical shifts. The re-election of Donald Trump reshaped global alliances and reignited debates on digital sovereignty and data control. The internet, once a symbol of global unity, is becoming increasingly fragmented. A ‘splinternet’, divided by politics and ideology, is becoming a reality. At AMS-IX, we are already seeing this: more complex routing, stricter data regulations, and region-first governance.
In this changing landscape, our mission remains unchanged. As a trusted interconnection hub, we continue to bridge digital ecosystems and protect the core values of the internet: openness, collaboration, and universal access.
Amid these developments, Europe continues to stand firm in support of digital rights. Regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Digital Services Act, and the newly adopted AI Act are aimed at protecting citizens and businesses from unchecked data-use and unclear algorithmic practices. For AMS-IX, this evolving legal landscape presents both challenges and opportunities.
Our infrastructure and services must not only be efficient and resilient — they must also meet the highest standards for security, transparency, and compliance. One area where regulation and innovation come together is AI training. Many AI models are built using datasets taken from the open web, which can be an issue under GDPR without explicit consent. This has led to tension between fast technological progress and legal rules. We take this responsibility seriously by working closely with policymakers to help create frameworks that support both innovation and accountability.
2024 also saw the implementation of the NIS2 Directive, which mandates stricter cybersecurity standards for operators of essential services. AMS-IX is directly impacted — not only as a vital part of the Dutch national infrastructure, but also as a service provider to organizations subject to the same directive. This reinforces our duty to ensure continuity, resilience, and trust across the digital value chain.
Our role has grown beyond facilitating data traffic. As a critical infrastructure provider, we are becoming an essential partner in national security. In 2024, we took part in government scenario planning, addressing whether AMS-IX could stay operational during cyberattacks or national crises. We shifted the focus — what more can we do to boost digital resilience?
That same year, we worked closely with partners like the subsea cable coalition and policymakers to shape the regulatory landscape. Our efforts helped pass key motions in Dutch parliament aimed at safeguarding national digital infrastructure. These motions address growing concerns around sovereignty, autonomy, and digital security amid escalating geopolitical tensions. Issues like sovereign cloud solutions and reducing dependence on foreign hyperscalers are now central to the conversation. While public cloud services are not inherently problematic, they raise important questions around dependency and the protection of intellectual property, urging organizations to reassess how they handle sensitive data and digital privacy.
A key example of our commitment to national resilience is the sovereign time service we are developing. After a 2023 incident where a disrupted time signal impacted government systems, we began creating an independent time synchronization platform. This will ensure accurate timing not only for networks but also for vital public services, strengthening the Netherlands’ digital infrastructure.
Over the past year, it has become clear that trust is the defining currency of the digital economy. Individuals, businesses, and governments want to know where their data resides, who can access it, and whether it is secure. In this context, we are increasingly positioning ourselves as a Trusted Connectivity Platform — an approach that places reliability at the center of everything we do, from routing and infrastructure to service delivery and partnerships.
We are actively involved in collaborative efforts such as the Dutch Metropolitan Innovation (DMI) coalition, which brings together public and private actors to develop secure data-sharing solutions. By the end of 2025, we aim to deliver a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) that enables transparent, auditable, and secure data exchange. Our goal is to help build a data economy rooted in trust, openness, and digital sovereignty.
The digital world is changing at an incredibly fast pace. Whether it is AI, geopolitics, regulation, or cybersecurity, each development directly affects our mission and operations. At the same time, this constant state of change offers enormous opportunity — to innovate, to lead, and to help shape a secure, inclusive, and resilient digital society.
In 2024, we proved that we are up to the challenge. We delivered. We built. We connected — locally, nationally, and globally. In the years ahead, we will continue to invest in our trust services, expand our international presence, and strengthen our partnerships across the digital ecosystem.
