Internet Traffic Observatory Networked Systems Group, ETH Zurich

A public IXP measurement project

Internet traffic,
seen at public exchanges.

The Internet Traffic Observatory collects traffic statistics that Internet Exchange Points publish openly. The result is a longitudinal, independently checkable vantage on how aggregate traffic grows, varies by region, and changes during major events.

Access the dataset Read the paper
Public signals 5-minute resolution
Schematic of regional IXP traffic traces Four traffic traces from different regions converge into a shared longitudinal observation window. AFR EUR AME APAC JAN 2023 DEC 2024
A schematic, not a total-Internet estimate. Each trace represents a partial public-IXP view observed consistently over time.
Published study snapshot 2023-2024
472 IXPs tracked worldwide
>300 Tbps peak daily aggregate by late 2024
5 min typical source resolution

The vantage

A different part of the Internet.

Public IXP statistics do not reveal every byte or every path. They do provide a distributed, application-agnostic signal that can be collected repeatedly and checked against the original sources.

01

Growth

Follow changes in aggregate public-IXP traffic over months and years, globally and by region.

02

Rhythm

Compare recurring daily and weekly traffic profiles without relying on proprietary platform telemetry.

03

Events

Identify unusual changes that coincide with large social, cultural, or network events and warrant closer investigation.

From source to record

A reproducible measurement loop.

  1. 01

    Discover

    Identify traffic statistics published by IXPs and map them to exchange metadata.

  2. 02

    Collect

    Read heterogeneous public pages, APIs, and graphs on their native update cycles.

  3. 03

    Validate

    Track source health, check extracted values, and preserve the provenance of each profile.

  4. 04

    Publish

    Release profiles, metadata, source configuration, and methods for independent analysis.

Open materials

Inspect the evidence.

The published data, source registry, and paper are maintained as separate records so each can evolve at the appropriate pace.

Data

Published dataset

Five-minute traffic profiles in Parquet format with source-to-IXP metadata.

Open on GitHub Sources

EYE-XP registry

Collector configuration and the public status record for individual measurement sources.

Inspect the registry Publication

Five Blind Men and the Internet

The measurement methodology, 2023-2024 study, results, and limitations.

Read via DOI