Google’s dark fiber purchases have made some people rather edgy. To the layman, even the term “dark fiber” sounds ominous. Chris Sacca, head of Google’s Special Initiatives, recently attempted to explain the purchases and put any fears to rest.
Sacca went on to imply that there’s a bit of unfair treatment going on. “You see an article in the New York Times about how AT&T has bought more fiber, and their stock goes up,” he noted. “Then there is the same article over here about how Google bought some fiber, and it’s like Google is trying to take over the world.”
Google spokesman Barry Schnitt contacted Light Reading to reiterate and expand on a number of Sacca’s points. The company doth protest too much? Google uses the dark fiber “to interconnect our data centers (for example, to replicate our search index to all of our computing sites),” wrote Schnitt. “We have users and data centers all over the world, so our connectivity needs are global in nature.”
Om Malik looked at these comments in terms of the long-rumored GoogleNet, and pointed out that “if you buy dark fiber, and then light it up to connect server farms (which are spread across the country/world) and peer with other telecom networks, the world would generally view you as a network service provider.”
Still, Malik noted, there is “no GoogleNet . . . for now.” It also appears that, at least according to Sacca and Schnitt, Google isn’t yet making a grab for world domination.
Tag:
Add to 
Bookmark Murdok: 
Doug is a staff writer for Murdok. Visit Murdok for the latest eBusiness news.
