Google Announces Ultrahigh-Speed Internet Experiment.

Google Announces Ultrahigh-Speed Internet Experiment.

On the front page of its business section, the New York Times (2/11, B1, Helft) reports that Google yesterday announced "it would offer ultrahigh-speed Internet access in some communities in a test that could showcase the kinds of things that would be possible if the United States had faster broadband networks. In Google's vision of the future of the Internet, the live streaming of 3-D medical images from a rural health clinic to a specialized medical center or the downloading of a full-length movie in a matter of minutes would become commonplace."

        The AP (2/11, Tessler) reports that Google's "experimental, ultra-fast broadband networks" would "connect consumers to the Internet and ensure that tomorrow's systems can keep up with online video and other advanced applications." The project "is also intended to provide a platform for outside developers to create and try out all sorts of cutting-edge applications that will require far more bandwidth than today's networks offer." Google said that "its testbed fiber-optic networks will deliver speeds of 1 gigabit per second to as many as 500,000 Americans," approximately "50 to 300 times faster than the DSL, cable and fiber-optic networks that connect most U.S. homes to the Internet today."

        "Google's proposed experiment...has advocates for a more open Internet cheering," the Christian Science Monitor (2/11, Farrell) reports. Additionally, many "suggest that allowing an open access network, which would give third-party service providers access to Google's fiber optic lines, eventually will bring down Internet prices, thus lowering a significant economic barrier to high-speed connections."

        Waterloo Outpost Playing Increasingly "Integral Role" In Google's Operations. Canada's Financial Post (2/11, Hartley) reported on Google's operations in Waterloo, a collection of "unassuming offices" in the University of Waterloo's Research and Technology Park. However, the regional office has "become one of the company's most vital recruitment centres and product development hubs," playing "an integral role" in the development of application such as the recently unveiled Buzz. "Google, much like other technology giants before it, sees the University of Waterloo and the surrounding region as one of its top three recruitment centres for undergraduates, alongside the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Mass., and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh."