Obviously a jumping off point for the future....

Or a now not so secret location for Googles new super-anti/villains hideaway?

Google is slowly (quickly?!) taking over the world....

Anyone remember the old days when AT&T was the only phone provider? Our friends at Google are trying to be that type of monopoly with Android, websearching and space imagery. Google is on the path to domination. Shall we bow down down to our new master?

Who in the World coordinates all of these undersea cables? Seems the odds of someone laying their cable over yours out in International Waters is pretty high criss crossing oceans. (e.g. A cable from LA to Japan has to cross a cable from San Fransisco to Hawaii.) Yet these cables have to get pulled up for repairs occasionally.

Does this mean that "Net Neutrality" is bunk - as long as you use Google?

I hope so. If nothing else I like to see people giving the "bad guys" the shaft.

Google can probably still make money from this even if they give the cable away and became a worldwide "free ISP".

Since their advertising business is almost ubiquitous, they effectively make ad revenue from everything on the net. More bandwidth usage means more ad revenue. Increasing bandwidth increases ad revenue. There's probably enough profit in that to make cables look like a small investment.

"We're not competing with telecom providers..."

We're just replacing them ;)

I guess they saw what apple was going through with telecom providers and thought,

mmmm

When we release our phone we'll also release our own network - one that effectively voids the need for telecom providers and one that'll support the online demands of our users.

The writing has been on the wall for ages - that people will be connected to anything and everything wherever they go.

Google might just be the first company/entity to make it all happen - without exorbitant costs and data charges.

Unfortunately they are exactly like a compulsive hoarder but instead of the usual shed or room full of s**t they are clogging the world with servers full of peoples searches and conversations - for what? ease of search? - Bahh!

Looks like the underwater pipe might just be a way of making the massive pile of s**t they hang onto disappear to another continent - well at least until it gets sent back as spam ;).

that's my two cents

Not on the map is PIPE's PPC-1 cable, from Sydney to Guam: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipe_Pacific_Cable

Without the "Google cable", this wouldn't have made much sense so Unity landing on Guam too was the industry's worst kept secret.

2009 and 2010 will be great years of the Internet down under; between PPC-1/Unity and Telstra's Hawaii cable coming online and Southern Cross doubling capacity we'll see at least a 4-fold capacity increase over what we have now.

Uncapped plans, anyone?

"the volume of data we need to move around the world has grown to the point where in some cases we've exceeded the ability traditional players can offer"

IOW, "Screw you guys who want to charge us for providing our services across your pipes instead of levying the charges on the customers who consume the bandwidth. We'll carry our own traffic."

Net-Neutrality is a funny thing. Google's uplink charges it, then my ISP charges me. But the poor carrier in the middle feels left out, so it decides to take a bite out of the source as well. Seems to me that the middle-carrier should just up its rates for usage and the rest will follow as necessary.

Or Google will lay its own pipes and give everyone the big finger.

Paris, the finger.

OK, class - please wake up and analyze the (non)redundancy of this illustration...

Extra credit for noticing those connections that are submerged and therefore that much harder to repair.

Are they serious about this layout?

How much are volcano hideouts going for in the region if you have one you might want to hang on to it.

...it's the only way that Google can get the bandwidth required to remotely control their enormous army of Japanese-built bionic killing machines from The Fortress. By Unity, they mean they are going to rule the world.

the one with the metal legs sticking out the bottom

I for one bow down to our new masters at Google.

Mine's the standalone one in the corner, with no internet connection and a copy of Encyclopedia Britannica in the pocket.

The short answer is that if your cable is broken and you need to lift it up but another cable is on top - well, tough luck, cut off some more of your cable.

Great insight into the workings of the undersea cable business here:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.12/ffglass_pr.html

nice to see the net getting some investment, I just cant help feel its becoming a bit one sided though....ah well I guess im using windows so, maybe its too late.

>"We're not competing with telecom providers..."

>We're just replacing them ;)

lol.. I vote that the funniest comment for a while, awesome stuff :D

"OK, class - please wake up and analyze the (non)redundancy of this illustration..."

Don't you think that there is a slim chance that the one of the world's most tech-savvy companies might have thought of that, and that the diagram provided in a press release may be a drastic over-simplification?

Say what you will about monopolies and neutrality, bu I was managing a tech outfit in Bangkok for over a year (have moved back since) and the extra bandwidth to/from Thailand is sorely needed (the main pipe came from S. Korea). Getting anything from UK/US from the fastest business speed you could buy was like the equivalent of dailup...not too much fun when trying to transfer 1GB files. Not sure about the other countries but am all for upping the pipe into BKK.

It's not a country, it's an acronym... Google's Ubiquitous (possibly Unity) Android Manufactory - you thought Android was just a mobile platform? That's just a cover. No, really... it IS androids under the dominion of the Googleplex - huge DNA harvesting androids that will absorb all DNA and map every genome until the Googlebrain has enough information to relay back to it's home planet and complete it's nefarious secret mission!

Let's see...

Global multi-billion dollar organisation - check

Nifty acronym (GUAM) - check

Remote tropical island to use as a secret headquarters (again Guam) - check

Someone call Napoleon Solo, his services may be required.

do we get Google Fishview?

Chris Cheale and Antidisestablishmentarianist,

Guam is actual Guåhån in Chamorro, their native language. Plus, there are already underwater telecom cables installed by AT&T and other firms decades ago, so having additional telecom cables would only be for Google in the Pacific. However, they would not be able to control the entire trans-Pacific telecom since there are already other underwater cables in use.

Try also not to insult the nice people on Guam. They are proud U.S. citizens, and Guam is actually pretty modern location being a U.S. possession with a large U.S. military presence. Guam went through a lot between the Spanish-American War and World War II with the Imperial Japanese occupation. The last Japanese soldier was found living in a cave in 1972 (http://ns.gov.gu/scrollapplet/sergeant.html). I guess he didn't get the memo about the end of the war in 1945.

The cool thing about this link (and the soon to be announced extension to Australia) is that it can be done with no under sea repeaters so you can run a few hundred fibres without spending a million dollars per pair per 100 km.