News and Events
02/10/2010
Google Gooses Rivals With Plan To Build Ultrafast Networks
Some online users should soon be surfing on superfast networks provided not by one of today’s Internet service providers but by … Google. The search king on Wednesday revealed plans to provide and test “ultra high-speed broadband networks” in select U.S. locations. The networks could serve 500,000 folks and be “more than 100 times faster” than what most Americans can get today, Google said.
Rather than looking to compete broadly with the phone and cable companies that provide most Internet service today, analysts say Google is trying to goose the industry to more quickly develop faster Internet networks that can more easily accommodate video — and the video ads Google and others sell.
The much-faster network could show businesses that’s it’s easy and desirable for them to use Google free productivity software via the Internet, rather than buying Microsoft’s packaged offerings, says Alex Veytsel, an analyst at consulting firm RampRate.
The superfast fiber network could “prove that Web-delivered applications and software as a service — and not desktop-based applications — is the future,” Veytsel said.
Then there’s what Veytsel calls Google’s “nuclear option.” It could use the tests for a much bigger plan to someday go head-to-head with cable and telecom firms in Internet services. “They might say, ‘if you don’t play nice we can spend $20 billion (to bring fiber to the home) and put you out of business,’” he said.
