10 Reasons Why a Google Fiber Network Could Reshape the ISP Landscape

News Analysis: Google announced recently that it plans to deliver a fiber network capable of delivering 1Gbps Web speeds. That's no small feat. The impact it could have on both the Internet and the tech industry as a whole cannot be understated. It could force changes in the entire U.S. ISP market, depending on whether Google eventually commits to widely deploying this 1Gbps network.

Google announced on Wednesday that it plans to deliver up to 1Gbps Web speeds to 50,000 people across the United States as part of an experiment to gauge the quality of next-generation apps, the viability of "new deployment techniques," and interest in "openness." Google might even ramp up availability to over 500,000 people in the U.S.

Google's announcement has sent shockwaves through the tech community. Just how much does Google plan to invest in its new fiber-optic deployment? How will major ISPs respond to the news? And perhaps most importantly, how will it impact the telecommunications industry? At this point, Google's exact intentions are unknown. But it could have a profound effect on the tech industry.
 

1. Speeds are abysmal

Around the U.S., Web speeds are abysmal. In many cases, the average American is lucky to get 10Mbps download speeds and 1Mbps upload speeds. It's a real issue. Other countries around the world are enjoying much faster speeds. And considering the Web is becoming increasingly crowded with large files, it's taking some folks much longer than they'd like to download those files. If Google can deliver 1Gbps download speeds, it would dramatically improve the average U.S. Web user's experience on the Internet.

2. ISPs don't seem to care

Unfortunately, most ISPs just don't seem to care that download speeds are not where customers would like them to be. Major ISPs, including Comcast and Time Warner Cable, have basically maintained status quo over the past couple years. And in some cases, those ISPs are limiting speeds on those that upload too many files each month. ISPs don't seem worried by this. Hopefully Google can make them realize that things need to change.

3. The market wants it

The market desires another company to come in and change things up. Current ISPs have been at it for too long without much competition. If Google can break into the market and offer dramatically improved speeds, companies like Time Warner Cable and Comcast will have no choice but to react. Having just a few companies dominating Internet access is a major issue for most Web users. Google is the only company that can address that.

4. Google has the cash to do it

Deploying a fiber-optic network to the home is an extremely costly endeavor. The immense cost has given ISPs a sense of comfort, knowing that the barriers to entry are so high, most companies will opt against deploying a network. But Google is different. It has the cash on hand—over $10 billion at last count—to invest in a full-scale fiber network without worry of losing everything. ISPs know that. And they are undoubtedly concerned. That's probably a good thing for Web users.5. It sets a precedent

By offering 1Gbps Web speeds, Google can set a precedent in the market. For once, ISPs will be required to play catch up. Once some users start talking about the incredible speeds Google is offering them, others will be jealous. They will speak out against their own ISPs. And it might cause Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and the others to finally get going on investing in infrastructure to deliver faster speeds. It might not be instant, but improvements will likely follow after Google unleashes its network.

6. The freshness of opennessAccording to its blog post, Google plans to deliver a spirit of openness with its network that Web users just haven't seen on the Web. Google's network will be "open access," which will allow users to choose an ISP from all those that use Google's network. For once, that openness might breed a sense of competition that seems to be lacking in the industry. ISPs are currently operating with little fear of competition. Google might be able to change that.

7. Passing savings on

Google also plans to try out savings ideas to limit the the deployment costs it will be required to pay for its network. Hopefully that means that those savings will be passed on to the Web user. In most cases, having such a hope wouldn't make sense when discussing the telecommunications industry. But Google is different. In several cases, it has changed the industries it competes in for the better. Hopefully it will follow suit in the telecommunications industry.

8. It could revolutionize the Web

If 1Gbps download speeds come to user homes, it could have a huge impact on the Internet. More advanced Web apps requiring better speeds could be offered. Larger files could make their way to the Web, making it a more preferred backup solution for any enterprise. Perhaps most importantly, it could challenge some Web developers to deliver experiences we haven't seen to this point. The Internet could be a different place after Google's network gets going.

9. Download speeds change everything

Download speeds could have a profound impact on the way users interact with the tech in their homes. According to Google, users could download movies from the Internet in "less than five seconds." Downloading HD films from a set-top box like the Apple TV would be more amenable to users. Google's 1Gbps connection could also affect the gaming world, making it possible for games to be delivered to users' homes over the Web, rather than require physical discs. Simply put, Google's download speeds could deliver exciting new advancements that could revolutionize the industry.

10. It's Google

Let's not forget that Google is the company behind the idea to deliver 1Gbps Web speeds. If it were an ISP or an unknown company, some might be suspect. But Google has a proven track record of delivering a service that people want to use. It also has the team and technical know-how to deliver on its promises. Whether or not Google's network will be available to just a handful of people or if its plan is part of a larger scale desire to take on ISPs is currently unknown. But if any company can revolutionize the telecommunications business, it's Google. It should be exciting to see what comes of its plans.       

Zahrain still chairman of IGP

GEORGE TOWN: Bayan Baru MP Datuk Seri Zahrain Mohd Hashim, who has been critical of Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, has not been sacked as the chairman of Island Golf Properties Bhd (IGP).

Lim said Zahrain was still chairman of the Penang Development Corporation (PDC) subsidiary “at the present moment.”

“PDC has informed me that no letter has been sent by either PDC or Island Golf Properties to any director of Island Golf Properties on any changes,” Lim said in a statement here yesterday.

He said Zahrain had been chairman and director of Island Golf Properties since July 9, 2008.

Zahrain claimed yesterday that he had been sacked as IGP chairman.

“Zahrain’s statement is a pack of lies,” Lim said.

Lim added that the PDC, which owns BJCC via its subsidiary Island Golf Properties Berhad, had decided to award the tender of managing BJCC to an experienced company valued at more than RM40mil.

Full details of the tender would be published after Chinese New Year in accordance with the state’s principles of Competency, Accountability and Transparency (CAT), Lim said.

He said certain actions and claims by Zahrain on IGP had compelled PDC to monitor it closely to ensure the company was run with the public interest at heart.

“PDC is concerned at how Zahrain is leading the IGP, when he and IGP recommended on Jan 12 last year that the operations of BJCC be outsourced and awarded to a company with a paid-up capital of RM2.

“To allow a RM2 firm to run BJCC, which involves expenditure involving millions of ringgit, makes a mockery of the open tender system. The company has no track record in running a golf club,” Lim said.

When contacted, Zahrain said: “If they have not sacked me so be it, but the issue is not about me but Lim’s arrogance and his dictatorial style in managing the state. I have reprimanded him, yet he remains stubborn.”

On the tender issue, Zahrain clarified that he only chaired board meetings.

“I don’t interfere with its daily operations. I am only paid allowances for the meetings. I have no hidden agenda, and to be accused of trying to push through a RM2 company is a fabrication. They are trying various ways to boot me out.

“I criticised Lim because I have the interests of PKR and the people at heart. Nothing more and nothing less,” Zahrain said.

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BJCC Golf and Country Club News

Let’s roar, not whimper

It’s time for the 40- and 50-somethings to stick their necks out and take the lead.

COME Sunday, it will be the first day of the Lunar New Year and it will be the start of the Year of the Tiger according to the Chinese 12-animal zodiac. This also means that this is my year as my zodiac sign is that of the Tiger.

This also means that I am 48 years old as I have gone through this cycle four times and the next time the tiger year comes around, I will be 60.

Over the past year, I have been brooding and dreading the coming of 2010 as it can only mean that I am going past mid-life still stuck in a crisis and it is going downhill after that.

However, as the Lunar New Year draws nearer, I find the gloom lifting and the rush of a new vigour of energy – it is as if I have gotten a shot of artificial booster to overcome anything that may stand in my way.
Maybe, this burst of adrenaline has got something to do with the fact that it has been over 40 days since I last had a cigarette, but I would like to think that the pending arrival of the Golden Tiger is responsible for my enthusiasm.

Those of us born in the 1960s are the country’s pioneers and I make no apology for this sweeping statement. We were the first lot to go through the change from English schools to Sekolah Kebangsaan.

We were the first to memorise and sing all those patriotic songs like Tanah Melayu, Malaysia Berjaya, Putera-Puteri, Barisan Kita and Muhibbah. We sang those songs with fervour and gusto although most of us did not understand the full meaning of those songs.

We were all schoolchildren when the race riots of May 13, 1969, broke out. It was our loss of innocence; suddenly we referred to each other in ethnic terms – most of the time in the rudest possible way. Overnight, we were a multi-racial country when prior to that we were just Malaysians.

Did we, children of the 1960s, have a choice in any of these things? No, we did not. The policies that followed and came about after May 13, changed our lives. Everything we did and were done to us was supposedly based on these policies by the people entrusted to implement them.

Sadly, today many of us realise that the implementers somewhat lost the plot along the way and carried out their duties over-enthusiastically and, in some cases, not in the spirit in which the policies were drawn up.

When we were old enough to realise that many of us had suffered at the hands of these zealots, we were so brow beaten that we, then the youth of the 1970s, just meekly accepted our misfortunes and avoided any confrontation when seeking our rights.

Instead, our parents found alternative routes and pathways for us. It was the same, regardless of we being Malay, Chinese or Indian, because then we left things to our parents to decide not knowing that they too were also experiencing these things for the first time.

For the non-Malay parents, they just drew on what they thought their fathers and mothers would have done – they prepared many of us to feel as though we were not going to stay on in Malaysia forever – they prepared us to be migrants.

For the Malays, because of the distrust created by the actual May 13 event and the propaganda that followed, the parents prepared the children to live without their non-Malay neighbours.

It would be easy for us today, with the benefit of hindsight, to judge everyone then – although some of us still cannot see clearly and are blinded by self-interest.

Then came the 1980s – the boom time for the world, where getting rich was the name of the game. We, the baby boomers, were just too busy making money to care about where Malaysia was heading or that there was a parallel economy in the country then.

Malaysia was flying high then but when we came crashing back to earth in the late 1990s the so-called Malaysian Dream was shattered. We left it to the politicians to resolve the problems, but instead they brought all of us into deeper conflict.

A decade later the same characters continued to dominate our lives when they should have faded away like bad nightmares.

We, who were born in the 1960s, are now fathers and mothers of children in their teens and twenties – the ages where their futures and thoughts are shaped.

In many ways they are luckier than us. They are more enlightened, and they also have more enlightened parents. The children born in the 1990s know what they want, and they know how to get it.

Unlike our parents, we must now stand up for them to ensure that none of them are deprived of anything that is rightly theirs. In a world where a country of 27 million is considered a small one, we must ensure not a single child of the 1990s is deprived at all. We are rich enough – in wealth and knowledge – to support everyone.

The May 13 incident brought about the New Economic Policy to ensure the fair distribution of wealth. I believed the policy is now outdated. I think Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak agrees with me because he will soon unveil the New Economic Model (NEM).

But this time as parents – not as politicians or technocrats – we must watch over the NEM policies like hawks to ensure that these are implemented as the authors meant them to be. We must be brave enough to shout out if we find any weakness in the implementation, and ensure it is fixed immediately.

We, the children of the 1960s, owe it to our forefathers to make sure the NEM works and ensure that their descendants will thrive in their homeland. No one should be made unwelcome. No Malaysian should be referred to as an immigrant anymore nor should any Malaysian feel threatened by another.

If we get it right, there is more than enough in Malaysia for everybody.

This is the year of the Golden Tiger and it is time for Malaysia and its people to roar.

Source: The Star Friday 12, 2010
> Deputy Executive editor Wong Sai Wan is going to miss his son when he leaves for Melbourne next week but prays that he will have a great Malaysia to come back to.