SiliconValley.com - Good Morning Silicon Valley All your Internet are belong to us

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:



Published: Tuesday September 20, 2005
Google: All your Internet are belong to usBy JOHN PACZKOWSKI
It seems Google really is planning to turn the Earth into a giant  
WiFi hotspot. The company is said to be reviewing bids for the  
development of a national DWDM fiber network and while it's  
conceivable that it intends to use that network to cost-effectively  
manage its ever-growing traffic loads, vendors who've reviewed  
Google's demands say its far more likely that the company is looking  
to become a competitive communications network provider. Now comes  
news that the search juggernaut is preparing to roll out a WiFi  
network along with a Virtual Private Network client to access it.  
According to documents prematurely posted to Google's Web site - an  
FAQ and privacy policy - the service is a beta available only at  
certain locations in the San Francisco Bay Area. Whether the company  
plans to further extend the service remains to be seen. Certainly,  
it's a daunting task. "Becoming a service provider would be quite a  
stretch for Google, but considering the billions of dollars Google  
could throw at the problem it could become a reality," Ovum analyst  
Roger Entner wrote a few months back when rumors of such a service  
first began to circulate. "Depending on how Google can adapt to these  
challenging areas and how committed it is to the space, it could  
become a home run or could break the bank." Still, a move into the  
communications space would be in keeping with Google's mission to  
promote universal access to the Internet for users. And it would do  
much to keep Google at the center of our Internet experience and in  
prime position to do what it does best: Serve us targeted  
advertising, in this case geographically targeted advertising.
Comment on this post

Q  U  O  T  E  D

"I believe today even a chimpanzee could raise $100M for a venture  
capital fund."

-- Sequoia Capital capital partner Michael Moritz assesses the  
current state of affairs on Sand Hill Road. 
Comment on this post

The first rule of The Google Partner Forum is - you do not talk about  
The Google Partner Forum.
The second rule of The Google Partner Forum is - you DO NOT talk  
about The Google Partner Forum. Google will hold its first-ever deep  
thinker conference later this month, an invitation-only event dubbed  
Zeitgeist '05. Attending will be Google co-founders Sergey Brin and  
Larry Page, Yahoo Chief Executive Terry Semel, MSN Senior Vice  
President Yusuf Mehdi, InterActive Corp's Chief Executive Barry  
Diller, Arthur Sulzberger, chairman and publisher of the New York  
Times, and Tipping Point author Malcolm Gladwell, among others.  
Sounds like the makings of some fascinating conversation. Too bad  
we'll never hear what was discussed though. Attendees are strictly  
forbidden from speaking about it. From the Zeitgeist '05 FAQ:

All speeches and discussions at Zeitgeist are off the record. To  
ensure that our presenters and attendees can speak openly, no press  
coverage or blogging is permitted.

-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org
To manage your subscription, go to
 http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip

Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/