[LINK] SMH: 'Google could be your next ISP'

Kim Holburn kim at holburn.net
Fri Mar 19 14:33:52 AEDT 2010


Interesting commentary here:
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/03/google-traffic/
> Google’s Traffic Is Giant, Which Is Why It Should be Your ISP


....

> Now much of that traffic comes from YouTube, since a three-minute  
> video is the traffic equivalent of thousands of pages of search  
> results — but that’s still a staggering number for a single company.
>
> Moreover, Google has a dual strategy for moving away from paying top- 
> level internet transit providers to serve as the middleman between  
> its servers and the world’s consumer ISPs.
>
> Now, more than half of its transit traffic is sent to those networks  
> through direct peering relationships, according to the data ISPs  
> provide Arbor Networks anonymously.
>
> Moreover, Google has been deploying banks of servers inside those  
> same networks, so traffic to Google’s servers never has to leave an  
> ISP, cutting down on lag time and transit costs. Arbor estimates  
> that more than half of the ISPs in Europe and North America are home  
> to a bank of servers known as a Google Global Cache.
>

...

> So where does this all fit with Google’s prominent announcement that  
> it will test out a residential network that will bring internet  
> connections of 1 Gbps to hundreds of thousands of people’s homes?
>
> Well, it’s unlikely that Google will want to become a full-on ISP,  
> but the changes and innovation Google is showing highlights just how  
> important net transit is to its business.
>
> What should frighten the world’s current ISPs is that Google’s plans  
> call for working with a community to build infrastructure on which  
> any company can sell internet services, so long as they pay a fair  
> rate to use the infrastructure. If Google can come up with a  
> partnering model that costs them little or uses a revolving fund,  
> they could create a workable model for communities to get beyond  
> reliance on companies like Verizon and Comcast. Using some of  
> Google’s cash, a lot of its know-how and citizen dissatisfaction  
> with the current costs of not very fast broadband, municipalities  
> could forge a viable alternative to the current system of begging  
> and pleading for telecoms to lay fiber in their areas.
>

On 2010/Mar/19, at 2:11 PM, Roger Clarke wrote:

> Google could be your next ISP
> ASHER MOSES
> The Sydney Morning Herald
> 18 March 2010
> http://www.smh.com.au/technology/enterprise/google-could-be-your-next-isp-20100318-qgtr.html
>
> Google's geeks are taking over the world, starting with online
> services and now with network infrastructure.
>
> Internet behemoth Google now boasts a network that's bigger than all
> but two of the world's ISPs, and telcos fear the search giant is just
> one step away from becoming an ISP itself.
>
> US network measurement expert Arbor Networks this week released a new
> report claiming that, if Google were an ISP, it would be the fastest
> growing carrier in the world and the third largest globally.
>
> "Based on anonymous data from 110 ISPs around the world, we estimate
> Google contributes somewhere between 6-10 per cent of all internet
> traffic globally as of the summer of 2009," Arbor's chief scientist
> Craig Labovitz wrote.
>
> Instead of relying on third parties to deliver its services, the
> search giant has spent billions over the past several years building
> data centres spanning millions of square feet all over the world.
>
> Its equipment is in place at more than 60 public exchanges and,
> Labovitz said, over the past year the company has deployed its Google
> Global Cache servers in more than half of all large consumer networks
> in North America and Europe.
>
> Google has effectively cut out the middleman and now more than half
> of its traffic is sent directly from its servers to the world's
> consumer ISPs, Arbor revealed. Next, it could cut out the ISPs as
> well by offering internet plans itself.
>
> With a wealth of infrastructure already in place, Google recently
> announced it was taking the next step by building an experimental
> fibre-to-the-home network in parts of the US servicing initially
> between 50,000 and 500,000 homes.
>
> Google plans to connect these homes to the internet at blistering
> speeds of 1Gbps. By comparison, the upcoming National Broadband
> Network in Australia is predicted to offer about 100Mbps.
>
> "I think Google is gearing up to be potentially quite a formidable
> competitor to existing telcos and ISPs, given their moves into the
> infrastructure level," Warren Chaisatien, research director and
> principal analyst at Australian firm Telsyte, said.
>
> Indeed, at the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Google
> chief executive officer Eric Schmidt was heckled by telco
> representatives in the audience who feared that Google was
> increasingly competing with them not only on the infrastructure
> level, but also by selling its mobile phone, the Nexus One, directly
> to consumers online, and by releasing apps such as Google Voice,
> which allows users to bypass the networks to make voice calls.
>
> Schmidt stressed the Google was purely experimenting in an effort to
> see what was required to bring networks up to 1Gbps, which could pave
> the way for more exciting applications and convince telcos to upgrade
> their networks.
>
> Analysts aren't buying it. "I think what we are seeing today is that
> Google is conquering the world, starting from online content but now
> they are building infrastructure," Chaisatien said.
> Chaisatien believes that, in the next five to 10 years, the ISP,
> telecoms and utilities industries will merge to form "smart grids".
> He said this was "one of the key arenas that Google intends to play
> very strongly in".
>
> Steve Dalby, chief regulatory officer with iiNet, said the ISP saw
> Google as a significant player in the online world but did not fear
> it any more than other potential competitors.
>
> Peter Coroneos, chief executive of the Internet Industry Association,
> which counts both Google and the ISPs as members, said increasing
> competition between Google and telcos would only provide better
> outcomes for consumers.
>
> He pointed to the roll-out of cable networks in the US, which unlike
> in Australia are not controlled by existing telco players, but by
> companies traditionally in the television space. The end result is
> consumers get more choice and cheaper access to the internet.
>
> "What we're witnessing is technological convergence and, in the long
> term, people are going to be getting their internet access from many
> different sources," Coroneos said.
>
> "Change is necessarily painful but the successful well-managed
> companies will always adapt, and that's why in the face of the cable
> threat in the US the telcos are still profitable companies."
>
> Google's push into infrastructure will inevitably add to fears
> surrounding its overwhelming corporate power, and increase regulatory
> heat on the company. But Coroneos pointed out that Facebook this week
> overtook Google as the most trafficked site in the US, showing that
> dominance can never be assured.
>
> "Competition is important and we have very strong laws in Australia
> to prevent abuse of market power ... so you would expect our
> competition laws to keep it in check," he said.
>
>
> -- 
> Roger Clarke                                 http://www.rogerclarke.com/
> 			
> Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611  
> AUSTRALIA
>                    Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
> mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/
>
> Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of  
> NSW
> Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National  
> University
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-- 
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
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