Google Chocolate Factory now building routers?
Why not? They're building everything else
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As part of an ongoing effort to cover the Earth with its very own built-from-scratch internet, Google is now redesigning the router. Or so it seems.
Citing "multiple sources, including one inside Cisco," the SDTimes blog says that the ad broker is "fed up" with Juniper, its current router provider, and "has taken it upon itself to chase down a solution of its own."
Google has not responded to a request for comment. But if the company is indeed building its own routers, it wouldn't be a surprise. We can safely say Google is already building its own servers, its own Ethernet switches, its own underwater comms cables, its own worldwide collection of brick and mortar data centers, its own containerized mobile data centers, and perhaps its own seaworthy Data Center Navy.
According to the SDTimes, Juniper counts Google as its largest customer, and the ad broker's latest efforts spell "doom" for the networking vendor. "If any of you out there own Juniper stock, now would be the time to rethink your ownership, before the rest of the world wakes up and realizes that the company's biggest cash cow is about to be sacrificed at the altar of doing it one's self," the blog reads.
We're also awaiting comment from Juniper.
In building its own Ethernet switches, sources say, Google is saving some dough by tweaking the interconnects on an existing design from Broadcom. But the SDTimes indicates the search giant is looking to fashion a new router from the ground up.
Google has already brainstormed its own power-saving server design, but in this case, it works closely with Intel. And according to a former Mountain View employee, it insists that Intel supply it with microprocessors that can operate at temperatures five degrees centigrade higher than their standard qualification. Google likes to run its data centers hot. This too saves costs.
Other news outlets seem to think that Google is interested in selling routers. But this is unlikely - at least in the short term. Google is not a hardware company. It's an advertising company that makes a little on the side from second-rate software. If it's building routers, these will be used solely within its own infrastructure.
As with its redesigned Ethernet switches and servers, Google may be looking to save some infrastructure dollars. But in building its very own internet, it also aims to ensure that the world can easily search its search engine. When the world searches its search engine, its money machine makes an awful lot of money. ®
COMMENTS
security
if they are using own brand software/hardware on these routers then they can make them more secure. harder to test for vulnerabilites if you dont know anything about them
Chocolate Factory
I'd just like to praise whoever came up with that one, it always make me titter like a little girl.
We've been there, done that
Back in the early days, Demon built it's own routers & NextHop's been doing GateD as a software router for years. Then there's Zebra, Quagga, BGPD and more.
Assuming Google doesn't need any of the fancy features implemented in silicon on big routers, then it's largely down to packet throughput, latency, I/O throughput, number of interfaces needed and the big one, cost. For simple Internet routing & packet pushing, good servers probably already outperform routers and any router wrangler knows that processes or features running in CPU on big iron can be a bad thing, because the router processors tend to be slow.
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