Google, Dark Fiber & Video

Siliconbeat has Michael Bazeley getting amazed at the high profile talent that Google is able to bring on board and he shares his perspective of Google’s vision through the lens of Dave Burstein of DSL Prime,writing that Google's worldwide buying spree of dormant fiber optic cable networks will ultimately support "the world's largest video server network,". He reasons that the dollars in video are large, and Google (with servers and worldwide fiber) will have strategic advantages and Video.google.com is just a precursor to this. Google's ultimate aim may be to become the most important video carrier on the planet, and is developing the servers and fiber network to make that possible. As television shifts to the net, only Yahoo and perhaps British Telecom are in position to compete. The ABC's and NBC's of the world are outclassed. Google has told their folks to plan services 'as though the servers and delivery' cost next to nothing, although the real cost in 2005 remains in the $billions. They know that will come down with Moore's law, and they are pricing down the learning curve. Once they build the basic network, the marginal cost of doing more will be amazingly small. Google is thinking ahead, building a network designed to bring that cost to a penny or two per hour by 2008. If they get video for free, they can afford to serve it just for the related ads. There is an unbelievable amount of video on the shelf not making money that can now be distributed through Google. Some will be free, other stuff as cheap as necessary to find a market.