How The Online Giant’s Fiber Project Could Change The Future Of Internet Access
As the scrutiny intensifies over the United States’ inability to keep up with the broadband efforts of other countries, a potential savior has emerged. With its upcoming Fiber For Communities project, Google will deliver Internet connections of more than 1Gbps to one or more trial communities, in turn spawning hope across the rest of the country that ultra-fast broadband could soon be a reality for almost everyone.
“The Google Fiber project will be an important development in the future of communications. In the initial phase, only a small impact will be felt, but if successful, it will serve as a proof-of-concept for how the Internet, and especially ultra-high-speed broadband, can be delivered in an open and transparent way,” says Dr. Thomas Way, director of Villanova University’s Applied Computing Technology Laboratory.
Supercharging The Network
Google has been vocal in its support of the Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Plan, which looks to expand mobile broadband and accelerate universal broadband access and adoption in the United States. That effort will depend heavily on eventual innovations and strategies from telecommunications companies and other parties, but Google is wasting little time on moving forward with a broadband plan that has almost everyone in mind.
According to Minnie Ingersoll, product manager at Google, the United States lags behind other counties despite its claim to fame of actually inventing the Internet. However, with Google’s plan to deliver FTTH (fiber-to-the-home), the company will be able to launch bandwidth-intensive “killer apps” that today’s networks can’t accommodate. For example, Ingersoll notes that just as online video and other applications arose from the transition from dial-up to broadband, this new ultra-fast broadband will spark increased streaming of high-definition video content, distance learning, remote data storage, real-time multimedia collaboration, and other applications. This Google-designed network will also feature open access, giving users a choice between service providers.
“Contrary to how most of our connectivity is provided today, where many consumers feel that they are at the mercy of a few—or only a single—providers, subject to the provider’s whim on pricing, this new approach could create openness and competition in this critical marketplace that may hopefully drive down cost to consumers while increasing bandwidth to our homes and therefore dramatically increasing the content possibilities,” Way says.
Proposals Submitted
Google released a request for information in early February, asking interested communities to submit proposals for hosting the Google Fiber trial. By the end of March, more than 1,100 communities around the country responded (along with 194,000 responses from individuals), but most of the community respondents will be left out, as Google says it plans to reach anywhere from 50,000 to 500,000 people during the trials—a range that will see the trials conducted in only a small handful of communities. Yet despite the massive, lottery-like fervor, interested communities are nonetheless trying their best to get their feet in the door.
“There are very few Internet highways coming into Lincoln. However, Lincoln is far advanced for a city of its size, with a great localized infrastructure. Internet penetration is high but the amount of backbones could be extended by this Google partnership,” says Joseph Knecht, managing director of Vipa Solutions (www.vipasolutions.com) and a member of a group in Lincoln, Neb., that actively recruited community and business leaders to get involved with the nomination process.
Meanwhile, in Flint, Mich., community leaders see Google Fiber as an upturn opportunity for an area that was particularly hard-hit by the economic downturn. John Foster, a partner at Convergent Technology Partners (www.ctpartners.net), says Google Fiber could allow Flint’s companies to build data centers locally instead of investing money in hosted servers in Detroit or even other states. He says the project could also allow its colleges to build new applications for the future that aren’t hindered by bandwidth limitations, and K-12 educational opportunities could evolve to make online and collaborative learning a reality with fewer barriers.
Google says it will choose trial locations by conducting site visits, meeting with local officials, and consulting with third-party organizations. Google expects to announce the communities—or even only a single community—by the end of the year.
Google Fiber In Motion
Little has been revealed by Google in terms of how the trials will proceed once the company determines the trial communities. Villanova’s Way predicts that Google Fiber will likely launch in one or two large markets, such as New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, or San Francisco, along with one or two smaller or rural areas. Also unknown is how Google will operate the networks, though some experts predict the company will leave ownership of the network with local operators, which in turn will provide open access for service providers.
“Google’s intentions are—probably intentionally—a bit vague. I suspect that they want to push higher use of Internet and specifically their applications,” says Irit Gillath, vice president of product line management for Telco Systems (www.telco.com). “I would assume that having control and knowledge of the user location will also increase their ability to provide targeted content and advertisement. They’ve mentioned using these deployments as their ‘playing field’ lab for testing new applications and new uses for existing services. Google has been involved in a lot of different initiatives that have changed the way we communicate and the services we’re using—from open Wi-Fi through their involvement in SmartGrid portals.”
Google has been relatively silent on plans beyond the trials, though Ingersoll says it has no has plans to build a nationwide network. Way predicts that Google will expand its fiber project into a few more markets to continue the experiment, as long as the initial trials are successful or result in only minor problems. He also sees Google Fiber as the tipping point for content providers to adapt to full network delivery of all content.
“Eventually, if this is achieved, costs could drop overall with a single modality of communication being easier to maintain from main office, head end, all the way into homes and business,” Way says. “Whether or not Google is successful at this, I think it will be an important demonstration of this idea, and with the prominence that the Google brand brings to this issue, it may become a moment of no return in the future of networking, communications, and the delivery of entertainment, for example, into our homes.” 
by Christian Perry
