ON GOOGLE DEPLOYING OWN INTERNET

SPEED BUMPS AHEAD

The Times of London reports that:

"Google is working on a project to create its own global internet protocol (IP) network, a private alternative to the internet controlled by the search giant, according to sources who are in commercial negotiation with the company."

Specifically, the articles quotes:

"A leading content provider, who did not wish to be named, told Times Online: "We are in discussions with Google to provide content for their alternative internet service, to be distributed through their Google Cube product. As far as I'm aware they have been conducting negotiations with a number of other players in our marketplace to provide quality content to their users."

Back last October, commenting on a provocative internet infrastructure-related article by Robert X. Cringely, I noted that:

"What's truly different since 1999 is that we don't have a whole horizontal layer of infrastructure companies this time around, funded by the same VC and investor exuberance ready and waiting to provide the storage and ISP (Internet Service Provider) infrastructure to the consumer online services companies. 

And we're just barely moving from text to pictures, with video, network-based productivity computing, internet telephony, wireless services and several other exciting things still around the corner."

As a result, I concluded that:

"the consumer Internet companies are going to have to get their hands dirty this time.  The effort, R&D, and the expense of the infrastructure build this time around will have to be borne on the financial models and statements of the consumer companies themselves, with or without the concurrent understanding, support and enthusiasm of their public shareholders.  And these companies will need to do this globally given the much greater maturity of international markets in Web 2.0 vs. Web 1.0."

So Google potentially contemplating their own Internet infrastructure is not an outlandish thought.  In addition to the reasons above, there is the added possibility that today's telcos and cable companies, who have a monopoly on Internet pipes in the US, also have a desire to compete with their customers, or at the very least be cut in for a piece of the action (see related post here).  To see the scope of the telco aspirations, see this recent article in BusinessWeek.

All this raises the possibility that this time around, the evolution of the Internet may not be as horizontally tiered as the last ten years, where infrastructure companies catered to consumer and commercial Internet services companies.  We may instead see semi-verticalized silos emerge in big chunks of Internet services, thus fragmenting the various infrastructure layers, potentially compartmentalizing some of them.  And that is not necessarily a good thing for mainstream users at large.

Comments

[Manuel]

My newest hobby is Blog reads that is more intresanter than newspapers or television. in the between time I spend already 4-5 hours at the computer. Writes firmly thereby I also still enough-end to read has.

cu Manuel off Austria