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11.18.05
Cringely Sees Google Trucking Along
 By
David Utter
Pundit Robert X Cringely, who recently keynoted WebMasterWorld's PubCon in Las Vegas, claims to know what Google wants with all the dark fiber it's reportedly purchased, but we think there's another reason.
He's found a deep dark secret in the Googleplex, our Cringely
has. Lurking in places where even Googlers may not tread, rests an item
of such significance, it could change the Internet and finally connect
all those GoogleNet threads in one logical tie-up:
The
probable answer lies in one of Google's underground parking garages in
Mountain View. There, in a secret area off-limits even to regular
GoogleFolk, is a shipping container. But it isn't just any shipping
container. This shipping container is a prototype data center. Google
hired a pair of very bright industrial designers to figure out how to
cram the greatest number of CPUs, the most storage, memory and power
support into a 20- or 40-foot box. We're talking about 5000 Opteron
processors and 3.5 petabytes of disk storage that can be dropped-off
overnight by a tractor-trailer rig. The idea is to plant one of these
puppies anywhere Google owns access to fiber, basically turning the
entire Internet into a giant processing and storage grid.
Forget about latency if Google drops one of these off at a peering
point near you. High-bandwidth and low cost means Google can deliver
streaming video content without a hiccup.
While Cringely mentions the potential for these portable data
centers to house the "coming AJAX office and other productivity apps,"
he didn't mention the single bit of content that makes Google a $117
billion company - advertising.
Google has been toiling away at its Video project. A
touchstone of Google development is make the cool product first, make
money off of it later. Imagine if AdWords and AdSense could deliver
video ads, and promise advertisers a certain level of reliability and
delivery.
The lack of ad inventory affecting rivals Yahoo, AOL, and Microsoft doesn't have an impact
on Google's network of sites that display contextual ads. We've noted
an increase in broadband adoption this year over past years. Google's
datacenters-on-trucks could be the way the company maintains its lead
in search advertising over its competitors.
About the Author:
David is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and
business. |
