Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Google WiFi and Secure Access

It's being widely reported that Google launched a product called Google Secure Access for encrypting information sent over open WiFi networks.

Many are also speculating that Google soon may be rolling out WiFi nationwide, building on their current experiment in San Francisco.

For details and analysis, see Om Malik, Slashdot, Danny Sullivan, and Nathan Weinberg.

Update: Wired has an article with an amusing blurb about Google's move toward WiFi:
The little search engine that could continues evolving into a Hydra-like monster. It's newest head will chew its way into the wireless internet world, making Google a direct competitor of ISPs and telecom companies.
[Found on Findory]

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Say, what do you think the strategy is here? I have a few ideas but am curious why you think a internet search/portal company is building up wifi infrastructure.

Greg Linden said...

I'm not really sure, frankly. Google does claim they want to make information universally accessible. It could be as simple as that, making it so more people can use Google more often to find the information they want and need.

I did post some wilder speculation about where this could go in an earlier post, "Google Talk and VoIP over WiFi".

What are your thoughts on their strategy, Peter?