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Google Seeks to Develop Parallel Internet?
KhanReaper writes "As reported on On the Media and Business 2.0, Google appears to be purchasing dark (unused) fiber optic cable across the United States with the intention of building its own alternative parallel internet that would presumably be called GoogleNet. Possessing such a thing could allow Google to offer internet access in the form of free wifi or other means and create a powerful captive marketing audience which Google could monopolize. Outside of these marketing opportunities, such a development in infrastructure could help reduce Google's long-term content delivery costs were it to take on more bandwidth-intensive activities in the future."
As much as I love Google as a search engine, I do have to say that this one is just a little bit scary. Can they really create their own internet, and still do no evil? Already, they are complicit in censorship in China. It doesn't make me really trust them with a project of this scope (though free wi-fi is cool...)
San Francisco Photographers
This GoogleNet idea is an interesting one, but I expect such a proprietary internet would lack would be shunned by the hackers and outlaws that bring true innovation to the technology world.
That being said, Google is much more open to developers than the other monopoly we're familiar with. And they have been collecting money and PhDs at an alarming rate -- they have something big planned.
Clearly Google realizes (like Microsoft before them) that he who owns the platform wins. By building a "better" internet, GoogleNet could be the next Win32 API enabling Google to have an earth-shattering money machine. Perhaps Google's stock is not over-valued afterall.
Sam
As much as I love Google as a search engine, I do have to say that this one is just a little bit scary. Can they really create their own internet, and still do no evil?
So what if they do. Just because Googlenet shows up doesn't mean the old internet ceases to function. If it becomes a draconian mess, no one will use it, and it will slip into irrelevance like Gopher.
Of course it is. After all, Google does no evil [/sarcasm] If this is truly the purpose they have for the fiber optic, they have truly taken Microsoft's "embrace and extend" to a whole new level (and would officially be evil, let the google apologists begin). Having said that, this is all speculation on why they want the fiber optic, it could just be they want to open up an ISP or to create an intranet only for their own data centers (and not for the public).
...They get it right.
In my opinion, what Microsoft seems to suffer from is getting things to market as fast as possible to remain (or at least appear to remain) competitive. The problem is, that once a product is in the wild, a lot of bugs and security flaws turn up which results in patching the software for the remainder of the time you own it.
The release and patch process is what the Mozilla Foundation seems to be falling into lately as well.
Google, on the other hand, seems to take a more "future use" approach to what they do, giving their products better longevity and as a result, a better experience to their users.
If they (Google) can "get it right" with a parallel network, they basically trump everyone in the market today who has laid claim to making the Internet better. If Google applies their anti-spam engine to network nodes, spam virtually faces extinction. And you know, if they watch what I surf and how I surf and it results in a better experience for me then I for one welcome our new Google overlords.
R(k)
I think that some of us are not paying too much attention. All the buzz lately, in technology communications industries, the USPTO, the FCC, and just about anywhere you turn on the Internet, has been about broadband, wired, wireless, mesh, all kinds of broadband... for Google to buy up a small part of the worlds existing as-yet-unused-broadband infrastructure only means that Google wants to still be relevant in 3 years time. I don't think it means anything more than that... it is what every telecomms company should be doing to ensure relevance in the comming All-IP all the time world.
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
I don't quite get the description. It appears that they might provide another avenue for Internet access, and add to existing infrastructure, but how exactly does this ammount to a parallel internet or separate entity from the rest of the internet?
Maybe if they _do_ form their own seperate network they can implement more secure (thus incompatible) mail protocols.
Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
That's the obvious and reasonable interpretation, yep.
:P
However, it might not be particularly unrealistic to suspect that Google might be considering starting an ISP.
Right now the ISP market is kind of shrinking because last-mile issues are effectively preventing anyone from providing broadband service unless they already own a high-bandwidth wire going directly into your house. However if 802.16 and similar technology delivers on its promises, it could remove this obstacle-- meaning that you'd be able to break into the ISP market with little more than the kind of purchases Google is making right now.
This theory is most definitely a stretch! However, unlike Business 2.0's "make a second internet and provide free access for some reason!" theory, at least it isn't stupid.
Also, who's to say Google even has a plan as to what to do with this dark fiber? As even Business 2.0 notes, now is a really good time to buy this stuff; you can get it cheap. Anybody ever heard of buy low, sell high?
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
I don't think Google could pull this off, at least at the scale that this article discusses. I doubt that there is enough dark fiber remaining in an amount comparable to even Akamai, one of the largest networks in the world.
Moreover, I doubt something like GoogleNet could even overtake the Internet as we know it. What I can see, however, is a GoogleNet in terms of a web service combining Google's all over the place software approach into a single unified framework.
Finally, as usual, I hope Google isn't discounting the presence of Microsoft. Microsoft, has in-fact, the world's largest VoIP and gaming network with Xbox Live, a fact that many people often seem to forget. And to think, it only took them a fairly short while to get it up and running.
Weirdly enough, though, Al Gore is on the board of directors of Apple Computer.
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
They're buying up all this dark fiber to connect all of their data centers, and possibly implementing IPv6 on all of their networks.
My guess is they're jumpstarting the migration to IPv6 with their own backbone. Offer free WiFi, but it'll be IPv6. Not only does everyone (possibly) get free WiFi, but they also get their own net block.
*scratches chin*
Now THAT would be something.
AT&T split up volountarily. The FTC occasionally blocks mergers/acquisitions (or the EU regulators with GE/Honeywell), but they haven't done any trust-breaking in years. IBM was investigated for 20 years or so, MS... speaks for itself.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
This is the best chance we have for rapid world-wide deployment of IPv6. Nobody wants to convert their existing networks, but if you're building out something new, why not? You heard it here first: the entire current internet is effectively just a relatively small subnet in IPv6 address space.
http://tinyurl.com/4ny52
So what I ask- There are millions of private networks out there. Banks and credit agencies own unmeasurable amounts of copper and fibre throughout each and every city you could imagine. Tons of private companies link branch offices all around the globe and datacenters. Country's governments are linking to other governments and other organizations to ensure a reliable transport. The phone company owns tons of fibre and copper. Major Internet providers (MCI, Verison, etc) own large percentages of the global Internet.
Keep in mind, ATMs (1.5-155Mbit) are very common amoungst all organizations. Over longer distances and in larger volumes (or with growth strategies in mind), fibre is popular as well.
Google is buying circuts, possibly to build some sort of network. Okay? So what? This is all speculation. Maybe they want to make a reliable link for their own content and databases? Maybe they're doing content distribution? Maybe they want to set up some more links to certain areas and join the likes of MCI, Verizon, etc at the top of the Internet for options that other ISPs could route through.
Or maybe they are trying to start their own unconnected network... Who knows! But there is NOTHING even remotely unusual about a company buying up private circiuts for its own use. Most big corps have many of them linking offices, dataceters, and various parts of the world.
NEXT
-M
when you see the word 'Linux', drink!
I am surprised no one has brought up Epic or Google 2014. The predictions when this came out were cool. Watch for a similarity :-D
I am Lord Snowbeam. Heed my call!
Aside from use of this high-speed private network for its own internal database-communications use, and for its nifty new long-distance voice chat toy, Google needs this fiber for its media delivery platform: significant torrent master nodes archiving vast repositories, supplying fat-pipe seeds with data for torrent distribution.
These fat-pipe seeds will be commercial ventures, perhaps paid by Google for their service; just as we'll pay Google for access to their media banks.
We won't purchase DVDs of TV series seasons; we'll torrent them, paying a buck or two a viewing, and very likely simply erasing the episode after we're done -- it's cheap enough to get again, and how often does one *really* want to watch an specific episode? Too much new stuff to bother with the old!
Ditto for computer/console games: download them when you want them, delete them when you're done. Or not: games have good replayability, and the vid companies can make money off a user-pay multiplayer network.
And, importantly, ditto also for internet memes. Like the Coral cache or Akamai.
For any popular, largish-file sharing, torrenting is an excellent delivery mechanism for non-realtime use, and Google would stand a very good chance of becoming a dominant "Network Television/Network Radio/Network Bigfiles" company.
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Mind you, Business 2.0 reported that Google Talk would "use VOIP technology to dial phone numbers in local search results" -- so you want to take their speculation with a grain of salt. What's funny is that their magazine came out about a day after Google announced what Google Talk was. So that was kind of, you know... awkward.
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.