Google's big bandwidth acquisitions
Robert Cringely's latest column, "When Being a Verb is Not Enough", looks at the massive bandwidth rights and data centers Google has acquired.
Google controls more network fiber than any other organization. This is not to say that Google OWNS all that fiber, just that they control it through agreements with network operators.
Google is building a LOT of data centers. The company appears to be as attracted to cheap and reliable electric power as it is to population proximity.
Of course this doesn't answer the question why Google needs so much capacity in the first place, but I have a theory on that.
The answer is pretty simple. Google intends to take over most of the functions of existing fixed networks in our lives, notably telephone and cable television. It is becoming very obvious what will happen over the next two to three years.
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