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Google NET is coming?

Please see update posted within

Scott Clark - Sept 11, 2005

Frequently I write about topics on the horizon. I like things that are just getting a first real push and showing real promise for widespread acceptance and which have implications to the business community in Lexington. I try not to reach too far out - who among us wants to read about yet another piece of “vaporware” of gadget doomed before it starts?

The “dot com” boom of the 90s led to the creation of massive, unused fiber optic networks that Google seems to be buying for pennies on the dollar.

But when the topic centers on changes that can transform society, I am willing to reach a little farther, especially when the evidence of something big happening building up. So I have been watching with interest the rumors and discussions about what has become known as the GoogleNET, a network owned, operated, and exclusive to Google. Think of it as an “alternative” Internet.

If you’ve not heard of it, don’t feel bad, as Google’s not made any announcements. The indirect evidence points us in a direction, and with a few assumptions, it certainly looks interesting. Buzz, blogs and pundits propose likely scenarios that vary widely, but the foundation of this idea is sound, and here’s why:

Starting in around January of this year, Google posted an ad on its job board that caught the attention of some careful trend watchers. It read “Google is looking for Strategic Negotiator candidates with experience in identification, selection, and negotiation of dark fiber [unused fiber optics] contracts both in metropolitan areas and over long distances as part of development of a global backbone network” To the uninitiated, that says “we want to find someone to help us connect cities.”

Cities? What in the world are they up to? Assuming their not going to be making groovy colorful lamps from the miles of fiber they’re buying, it appears a plan to move large quantities of data between metro areas is being executed.

The timing is great for Google. There has never been such an economical moment to build this. The “dot com” boom of the 90s led to the creation of massive, unused fiber optic networks that Google seems to be buying for pennies on the dollar. This is not unlike India is utilizing cheap trans-Atlantic dark fiber for information technology services. Google is getting its hands on lots of bandwidth for next to nothing, and without the burdens of various middlemen taking their slice. It will be a network built cheaply, operated cheaply, and highly desirable to the public.

For the end-user, this probably would mean free broadband access over probably wireless connections – supported 100% by geotargeted advertising.

But activity in Mountain View doesn’t seem limited to buying Fiber Optics. Google has begun hiring communications specialist away from NASA Ames and JPL. They even hired Vint Cerf, the person who co-developed the Web’s communications protocols and is known as the “Father of the Internet” (no, it wasn’t Al Gore!) These aren’t people who work “inside the box” of the existing Internet technologies, they invent them from scratch.

With all of these new resources at its disposal, there is nothing stopping Google from building such an alternate Internet for their own use. For the end-user, this probably would mean free broadband access over probably wireless connections – supported 100% by geotargeted advertising.

It stands to reason. Google now makes its money through advertising systems, known as Adwords and Adsense. They use complex technologies to deliver “just in time” ads to customers surfing the web and reading email in such a way as to not be annoying. In the past year or so, they started offering location-specific ads providing local advertisers the ability to limit where ads are shown. Studies show those who receive advertisements relevant to their circumstances are much more receptive to such messages and more likely to take advantage of what they offer. But using the current Internet infrastructure imposes limits on the accuracy of location data, and the model sometimes breaks. I often get Louisville ads here in Lexington because my ISP uses a connection that passes through there. Clearly GoogleNET cannot reach its potential until these issues are solved.

But if Google offered improved pinpointing, many new opportunities emerge. If you’re looking for a place to eat, for example, and you pull up your Googlephone (another rumor) press “eat” it could serve up a list of restaurants within a few blocks in the order of the highest bidder for that ad space. Menus, a coupon, and directions given to you as you walk or drive helps turn that ad into a buying customer. Similarly, while pulling into the parking lot of Home Depot, Lowe’s could send an ad to your device offering $10 off any purchase made in the next 30 minutes, and proceed to guide you to the closest store with a scan-able bar code coupon right on the screen. I can imagine people pulling into parking lots just to see what kind of deal the other guy will give!

Privacy concerns do come into play, but one has to remember that participation on the GoogleNET would be entirely voluntary. It’s my opinion that people would flock to it the way they’ve flocked to Kroger’s plus card, for example. The idea of free internet access, helpful guides, money saving coupons, and hundreds of other amazing tools on an inexpensive device is the kind of thing that causes mass migrations, even with the knowledge that you’re part of a big network.

The excitement continues into web marketing as it gives precise and strategic capabilities to companies wanting to find certain customers where they are and at the moment they need something. Could it be that the Internet-enabled refrigerator will finally be reality? Will the advertisement on the billboard change depending on the interests of people driving by? We’ll see. And so will Google.

Update 3/18/06:  It now appears that the GoogleNET is being built up in order to support Google Office as much as anything.  With a net-based office suite based on GDrive (a Google Hard disk), Google Calendar, Writely, and everything else that Google's buying up, they're going to need to support these with bandwidth.  With their own bandwidth, they can prioritize these apps' throughput, and make them faster than anything Microsoft can offer.

Update 6/20/06: New Theory why Google's doing this.... IPv6... great write-up. ....According to Lightman, some service providers are preparing for IPv6. He ran down a list of companies with "slash 20" addresses. "You know who else has a big pot of slash 20? Google," Lightman said. "Yahoo does too. It's not that service providers aren't doing it—it's the savvy service providers, with the high multiples and visionary management, that are getting ready to go into it. ... more....

Update 3/24/08: Aaron Wall notes that Google may be at it again... quoting from the Wall Street Journal about whitespace bandwidth that could be used for large scale web connectiity.

Google Video. 

©Scott Clark
 

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