Free Wi-Fi? Get Ready for GoogleNet.
A trail of hidden clues suggests Google is building its own Internetand
might be looking to let everyone connect for free.
By Om Malik
Business 2.0
September 2005 Issue
Find this article at
http://www.business2.com/b2/web/articles/0,17863,1093558,00.html.
What if Google (GOOG) wanted to give Wi-Fi access to everyone in America?
And what if it had technology capable of targeting advertising to a users
precise location? The gatekeeper of the worlds information could become
one of the globes biggest Internet providers and one of its most powerful
ad sellers, basically supplanting telecoms in one fell swoop. Sounds crazy,
but how might Google go about it?
First it would build a national broadband network -- let's call it the
GoogleNet -- massive enough to rival even the country's biggest Internet
service providers. Business 2.0 has learned from telecom insiders that
Google is already building such a network, though ostensibly for many
reasons. For the past year, it has quietly been shopping for miles and
miles of "dark," or unused, fiber-optic cable across the country from
wholesalers such as New Yorks AboveNet. It's also acquiring superfast
connections from Cogent Communications and WilTel, among others, between
East Coast cities including Atlanta, Miami, and New York. Such large-scale
purchases are unprecedented for an Internet company, but Google's timing is
impeccable. The rash of telecom bankruptcies has freed up a ton of
bargain-priced capacity, which Google needs as it prepares to unleash a
flood of new, bandwidth-hungry applications. These offerings could include
everything from a digital-video database to on-demand television programming.
An even more compelling reason for Google to build its own network is that
it could save the company millions of dollars a month. Here's why: Every
time a user performs a search on Google, the data is transmitted over a
network owned by an ISP -- say, Comcast (CMCSK) -- which links up with
Google's servers via a wholesaler like AboveNet. When AboveNet bridges that
gap between Google and Comcast, Google has to pay as much as $60 per
megabit per second per month in IP transit fees. As Google adds
bandwidth-intensive services, those costs will increase. Big networks owned
by the likes of AT&T (T) get around transit fees by striking "peering"
arrangements, in which the networks swap traffic and no money is exchanged.
By cutting out middlemen like AboveNet, Google could share traffic directly
with ISPs to avoid fees.
So once the GoogleNet is built, how would consumers connect for free
access? One of the cheapest ways would be for Google to blanket major
cities with Wi-Fi, and evidence gathered by Business 2.0 suggests that the
company may be trying to do just that. In April it launched a
Google-sponsored Wi-Fi hotspot in San Franciscos Union Square shopping
district, built by a local startup called Feeva. Feeva is reportedly
readying more free hotspots in California, Florida, New York, and
Washington, and it's possible that Google may be involved. Feeva CEO Nitin
Shah confirms that the company is working with Google but won't discuss
details. Google's interest in Feeva likely stems from the startup's
proprietary technology, which can determine the location of every Wi-Fi
user and would allow Google to serve up advertising and maps based on
real-time data.
So is Google about to offer free Net access to everyone?
Characteristically, the company is cryptic about its goal. "We are
sponsoring [Feeva] because [it is] trying to make free Wi-Fi available in
San Francisco, and this matches Googles goal to organize the worlds
information and make it universally accessible," says Google spokesman Nate
Taylor. "We don't have anything to add at this point about future plans."
To which we speculate: Today San Francisco, tomorrow the world.
--------------------------------------------[BOXED
FEATURE]--------------------------------------
What Google Has on Deck
A sample of the high-bandwidth applications in need of the GoogleNet.
Service
Status
Purpose
Print
Beta
Lets readers peruse and search the entire contents of public-domain books
on the Web.
Earth
PC-only download
Uses satellite photos to explore landmarks and present geographic
information at street-level views.
Video
Search
Beta
Searches archived television content ranging from sports to documentaries
to news shows.
Music
Rumored
Might troll podcasts and other audio files so they'd show up in search
results.
TV
Rumored
Could let users share personal videos with friends and watch on-demand
television programming.
Talk
Speculated
Would use VOIP technology to dial phone numbers that appear in local search
results.
Sources: Google; Industry insiders
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
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