[Infowarrior] - Google Buys A Piece Of TransPacific Cable

[Richard Forno]

 Google Buys A Piece Of TransPacific Cable
Om Malik, Monday, February 25, 2008 at 6:06 PM PT Comments (0)

Google is buying a piece of a new transpacific fiber optic cable, according
to research firm, Telegeography. This will be yet another piece of what can
be loosely described as GoogleNet, a fiber network built & leased by the
search engine & advertising giant to meet its ever growing bandwidth
requirements. Google is one of the six investors in the ³Unity² undersea
cable that will connect US and Japan. The new cable is going to be built by
Tyco Telecommunications & NEC for about $300 million.

Telegeography says that Google has been trying to buy a piece of a
trans-pacific cable for a while now. Google CEO Eric Schmidt had admitted to
as much a few months back. I have written about how Google is using its
infrastructure (including network) as a strategic advantage, and this latest
move is an extension of that philosophy. It has been buying dark fiber to
grow its network, as I had first reported back in 2005.

According to Telegeography estimates that trans-pacific bandwidth is eight
times higher than trans-Atlantic routes. Google can now get capacity at
cost, and it can also squeeze more out of its infrastructure. Our good
friend TeleGeography Research Director Alan Mauldin doesn¹t think this is
going to start a trend.

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http://gigaom.com/2008/02/25/googlenet-update-google-buys-a-piece-of-transpa
cific-cable/