This document discusses internet exchange point (IXP) traffic patterns observed during several major sporting events in 2010 and 2012. During the 2010 FIFA World Cup, IXP traffic dropped noticeably during televised matches. The 2012 Euro Championships saw characteristic double peaks in traffic during matches. The 2012 Olympic Games showed correlations between certain events and traffic but patterns were more difficult to identify due to the spread of events. Overall, major sporting events appear to have a greater impact on increasing IXP traffic volumes. The collaboration between IXPs provided insights into typical traffic patterns during such events.

1. IXP Traffic During
Major Sport
Events
September 2012
Bijal Sanghani, Euro-IX
Serge Radovcic, RIPE NCC

2. Outline
• FIFA World Cup 2010
• European Championship 2012
• Olympic Games 2012
• Conclusions
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3. IXP Traffic and the Climate
Start of the Summer in Amsterdam 2010
First warm (dry) day of the summer vs. wet day
160+ Gbps difference in peaks
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4. FIFA World Cup 2010
• Euro-IX looked at IXP traffic statistics during
World Cup 2010 in South Africa
• Traffic variations
• Match-by-match traffic analysis
• Stats from IXPs in participating countries
• Aggregated stats from 51 IXPs
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5. FIFA World Cup 2010
• Italy vs. Paraguay
• MIX Milan - clear drop in IXP traffic during match
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6. FIFA World Cup 2010
8.5Gbps peak
• LONAP (London) traffic on a ‘normal’ weekday
29.50 Gbps peak
• Wed. afternoon WC 2010 England vs Slovenia
Wed. afternoon World Cup 2010 England vs Slovenia
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7. Champions League Final (Chelsea vs. Munich)
First opportunity to start
monitoring traffic before the start
of European Championships
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8. 8

9. Euro Championship 2012
• Great Collaboration between Euro-IX & RIPE NCC
• Euro-IX asked for IXP volunteers to provide data
• 15 Euro-IX Member IXP participated
• Observed some interesting patterns during
football matches
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10. Five Articles during Matches
• Preparations before Euro 2012
• After first round of group matches
• At the end of the group stages
• After quarter finals
• Final conclusions after Euro 2012
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11. Typical Patterns during Match (1)
• Double dip during first and second half
- GIGAPIX: Portugal vs Netherlands
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12. Typical Patterns during Match (2)
• AMS-IX: First match NL vs Denmark
- Second match: Germany vs Portugal
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13. Typical Patterns during Match (3)
- Double bump (traffic Increase of around 90%)
- Samara-IX (Russia): Spain v Croatia and Ireland v Italy
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14. Typical Patterns during Match (4)
- INEX (Dublin): Ireland vs Italy
- Irelands last match of series
- This was record peak traffic at INEX (34 Gbps)
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15. Other interesting Patterns
• Semi-final Spain-Portugal with penalties
- Triple dip at GIGAPIX (Portugal) [Spain won]
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16. 16

17. Olympic Games 2012
• Expected different patterns due to different
spread of events during Olympics
• More difficult to identify typical pattern
• Events took place both during office hours and
in the evenings
• We could correlate certain patterns in traffic with
certain popular sport events during Olympics
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18. Olympic Games 2012
• We took multiple samples of weekly snapshots
of the IXP traffic patterns
• On the same day of the week both one and two
weeks before the event took place
• On the same day of the week both one and two
weeks after the event
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19. Popular events out of office hours
• Opening ceremony in evening (Red line) LONAP
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20. Popular events during office hours
• Heptathlon, cycling, tennis in the UK (Green line)
• LONAP (London) Friday during office hours
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21. Popular Event in a Country
• Boxing in Ireland - INEX (Dublin) office hours
Darren O’Neill
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22. Popular Event in a Country
• Boxing in Ireland - INEX (office hours)
Katie Taylor
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23. Other events in 2012
• France-IX (Paris)
- French Open at Roland Garros
- Men’s Sunday Final was rained-out
- Forced to play on Monday (35 Gbps increase)
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24. Main Conclusions
• Great collaboration & participation
- by Euro-IX IXPs
- by RIPE Labs participants
• Major sporting events seem to be having a
greater impact on IXP traffic volumes
• Discovered typical pattern for football matches
• Despite big peaks at times, Internet can cope
• Good exercise for other major events
- Can we find patterns for certain events?
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25. Thanks to the IXPs that took part!
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26. Links & References
• Euro-IX Website
- http:www.euro-ix.net/
• All articles on RIPE Labs
- https://labs.ripe.net
• All the Olympics 2012 IXP graphs:
- http://albatross.ripe.net/demo-area/ixp-olympics/
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27. Questions?
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