The Google Box

Robert Cringely, part 2 (part 1 here)...

"... The big question is what Google will get for its $3 billion bet? Last week we covered the idea of doing massive video streaming or downloading through parallel peering arrangements. We also covered the basics of reducing latency for network-based AJAX applications to compete with Microsoft. But there is a LOT more.

Once you have a data center at every Internet peering point, you also have a data center in or near every major city in the developed world. That suggests Google might be interested in using the portable data centers for Voice-Over-IP telephony. Sitting 2-3 hops from every telephone and having available Google's own fiber network and traffic shaping to give priority to its VoIP packets, Google could offer world-beating telephony performance, all for less than eBay is paying for Skype.

Another possible use for this parallel Internet is, if anything, more political than technical. The players in broadband Internet service - the telephone and cable companies for the most part - have as much to lose as they do to gain from the Internet. The telephone companies have at risk their voice service, which is already being undermined by VoIP. The cable TV companies are risking their video service as telcos get set to offer various DSL video channels. Each group realizes they can't stop the progress of technology yet on some level each group would like to try. By grabbing a big fistful of optical fiber and having data centers at very peering point, though, Google offers an alternative in case one party or another is tempted to undermine the system through technical tricks like altering the packet interleaving to mess with VoIP as I have written before. Google's success requires an open Internet and their presence and deep pockets guarantees that will be the case.

But the most important reason for Google to distribute its data centers in this way is..."

Read the entire essay here...