Google to create NYC Googleplex
hidden away in a Times Square high-rise, more than 80 software engineers are coding up some exciting Google products… generally we focus on the next generation of Google's crawling and indexing technology. We've got hard-core statisticians pondering how to measure search quality more accurately, and a slightly nutty project that we think might revolutionize the way that we organize and search structured information…
So we're a little geeky for New York City, but it is supposed to be a melting pot, isn't it? And we're right next to Bryant Park, home of one of the world's first free public 802.11b networks, which we sponsor. Somehow that seems appropriate for a bunch of hackers trying to organize the world's information. It almost goes without saying that we're hiring like mad, what with our insatiable appetite for great software architects and coders.
In “Google's new vertical, offline initiatives: NYC ad sales push “ and “Google, Federated Media target NYC ad sales” I discuss Google’s latest ambitious sales push into NYC and plans to hire about 100 people for its NYC office.
Google is now said to be opening a second larger and more strategic operations and data center in lower Manhattan.
In “Google the ISP with 2^96 IPv6 addresses” fellow ZDNet blogger George Ou puts forth that:
Google owns a block of IPv6 addresses numbering approximately 7.9 x 1028 (79 billion billion billion addresses) or 296…
ARIN (the organization that allocates IP addresses on the Internet) only gives IP blocks of this size to ISP for the purpose of reselling to end users and companies. Put this in the context of Google's continued purchase of dark fiber (unused fiber optic cabling, much of it left from the dotcom era) and the construction of a massive data center, it's clear that Google is trying to position itself in the heart of the Internet.
Google is reportedly positioning itself in the heart of Manhattan by setting up shop in 300,0000 square feet of desirable Silicon Alley real estate to further just such a goal, according to reports in The Village Voice:
It's a poorly kept secret that the company will soon open a huge new office and networking facility at 111 Eighth Avenue…
The ultimate goal? Perhaps the planet's biggest ever computer network, bypassing all those pesky cable and telephone companies. That's why what lies beneath 111 Eighth Avenue may be more important than the building itself. The old Port Authority headquarters sits atop one of the main fiber optic arteries in New York City—the Hudson Street–Ninth Avenue "fiber highway." The venerable behemoth is already one of the country's most important "carrier hotels"—loosely speaking, the physical connection points of the world's telecommunications networks and the World Wide Web…
Google not only gains a giant space for a new server farm that will most likely house thousands of Google machines, but also gets direct access to the building's network-neutral meet-me room—literally, an area where telecommunications companies can physically hook up and exchange data cheaply and efficiently. Google would be able to expand its offerings of new Internet products and services such as Internet telephone service, video, and Web-based enterprise software—competing for business against the likes of Microsoft, Skype, and YouTube—much more efficiently and competitively.
The Google team has been making personal inroads in the Big Apple as well. Last June, Google CEO Eric Schmidt spoke with NYC publishing executives (see "Google targets GPS-based in-car personalized advertising") and last week Google met with investors in NYC (see "Google wants $10 billion local online ad spend").
Google sales execs will also be represented in NYC in the coming weeks at OMMA, MIXX and Advertising Week: Patrick Keane,Head of Sales Strategy; Tim Armstrong, VP Advertising Sales...and I will be there!