Sounds like LightSpeed to me.
Posted on 01/17/2005 1:06:22 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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"We view this, in a sense, as exploiting a moment in time," Corbato said. The telecom boom of the late 1990s led to a glut in fiber assets, and the subsequent bust put undeveloped fiber on the market at bargain basement prices. "The sense of urgency in acquiring these assets has been tied to the unique opportunity that's been presented...The spot market for fiber is already going up, and most people expect these assets will get gobbled up."
Corbato says he has noticed signs of increasing interest in dark fiber from private enterprise of late, most notably among large financial institutions. Meanwhile, in December, cable giant Comcast signed a $100 million-plus deal to buy long-haul dark fiber to build out its network.
A Level3 spokesman declined to comment when told of Google's job posting.
Corbato also declined to speculate about Google's plans. But he said fiber optic expertise is a natural fit for a company like Google.
"If I were the CIO of an international information technology company, I would think that having these types of skills would be a natural to have within the organization."
This is great. I'm all for capitalism and modernizing the existing infrastructure.
Google appears to be the new century's Microsoft or IBM.
Any ideas about what's going on?
Unlike Microsoft, you're not forced to use Google.
Google has been acquiring major players from Sun in the past year. They definately have bigger plans than just being a search engine.
Can't make money being strictly a search engine.
Nobody is forced to use Microsoft. No one ever has been forced to purchase Microsoft.
A day seldom goes by on FR when we are not told that Macs are better or Linux is better and safer. Now Macs are being priced competitively.
They're called pissing matches.
Now Macs are being priced competitively.
I would think so, the overall price of a computer has dropped quite considerably. Whether you buy a PC or a Mac.
I don't have an insiders view on this one, I do however deal with telco guys pretty frequently. Fiber is being deployed in the local loop, not fast, sort of slow and plodding but I think it's just a matter of time before we have gigabit speeds just about everywhere. Buying dark fiber right now may just be a good investment if you've got the capital. ComCast here in northing NJ is quietly upgrading everyone to 6mbit cable. Some of the telcos are upgrading DSLs from 1-2mbit to 3-6-9mbit. Looks to me as if the guy holding both ends of a fiber line from one town to the next could be a big winner when demand arrives in the next 5+ years.
Google could also be looking to provide VOIP which will continue to grow. 5 Cents a minute on all long distance is a bargain that most people don't even know exists yet. It's a big step though and they don't have the assets.
They probably also want to charge for access.
We are in the 21st century and business models yet to be are still being worked out.
Thanks for the info.
Maybe the Telco revolution is finally starting to happen.
I tell you. A few years ago when google first showed up I wanted to buy in. The next best was called www.alltheweb.com but google was way better.
Google blew away alta vista.
But google was private and not even commercial.
I wonder what ever happened to web crawler. Early on that and Yahoo on the akebono server were where it was at.
And gopher. Remember gopher?
Sounds like LightSpeed to me.
Pure speculation on my part, but first, if Google believes the "dark fiber" is dirt cheap, then it may make sense..It's similar to the airline pioneers staking out routes. Once they have it, then regulatory conditions might make a Google with dark fiber capacity untouchable in a hostile takeover...
Good discussion of what dark fiber is......
Hey! Tell 'em ta git in touch with Darth Vader!!!
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