Were Google An ISP, They'd Be The Third Biggest But again: they're not, and don't want to be. Wednesday Mar 17 2010 14:29 EDT Arbor Networks has released a new study that notes that if Google was an ISP (a big if), they would be the fastest growing carrier in the world -- and third largest global carrier. As we've long discussed, Google has made huge investments into data centers and worldwide fiber. Why? So they can save money on and speed up delivery of their primary product: advertisements. Based on anonymous data from 110 global ISPs, Arbor estimates that Google now contributes somewhere between 6-10% of all Internet traffic globally. And Arbor claims Google's network muscle power is growing in a multitude of new ways: quote:
But even building out millions of square feet of global data center space, turning up hundreds of peering sessions and co-locating at more than 60 public exchanges is not the end of the story. Over the last year, Google deployed large numbers of Google Global Cache (GGC) servers within consumer networks around the world. Anecdotal discussions with providers, suggests more than half of all large consumer networks in North America and Europe now have a rack or more of GGC servers.
Of course with all this network power, data centers and fiber -- there have long been proclamations that it's a hop, skip and a jump for Google to simply become an ISP themselves. That assumption has only grown louder after Google's recent decision to trial 1 Gbps service in between 50,000 and 500,000 U.S. homes. Again though, Google's trial is about 1 testing next-generation ad delivery and 2 collecting political ammunition and PR brownie points in their battle against ISPs over network neutrality and broadband competition.Google isn't an ISP, and Google doesn't want to be an ISP. |
2 recommendations |
People are glossing over the policy side of thisGoogle may not wish to get into the ISP business, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're not interested in being a player in the infrastructure. A big portion of their 1 Gbps fiber project will be to test out policy and deployment ideas in addition to to technical ideas. This is huge and isn't getting the attention it should.
Here's a scenario for you. What if Google were to get into the fiber business? What if they were to own companies who's sole purpose was to get franchise agreements to lay a fiber infrastructure and create an open access network for other ISPs to use? They're not concerned with pricing and billing, customer service, or additional bundled services, these are all left up to the ISPs. Their only concern would be providing an even playing field for all ISPs and a fast enough pipe to provide whatever services those ISPs which to sell. It would be in their best interest as a content provider to keep ISPs from limiting choices consumers have, and to keep ISPs from playing favorites with the speed throttle. | actions · 2010-Mar-17 3:08 pm · (locked) |
|
