On August 3rd, we asked the question if Google would roll out a CDN. That question has been answered, and Google has rolled out Phase 1 of its CDN right under our nose. Phase 1 is a work-in-process with all the basic CDN components in play. However, Google has yet to commercialize their CDN feature set like Amazon and Microsoft. For Google, it’s no longer a choice of whether to do it or not, but when. The first reason Google must act is to level the playing field with Amazon and Microsoft. The second reason is to plug a hole in their cloud services offering. The three pillars of cloud services are compute, storage and delivery. Amazon gets it, so does Microsoft, and even Apple. Google is surely next.
We are going to predict that Google will eventually launch a commercial CDN in six months. Currently, Google Cloud customers enjoy the convenience, flexibility and control when subscribing to compute and storage services. It only makes sense to include a commercial CDN offering that can be added to Google Compute and Storage with a click of a mouse. And we don’t count load balancing between POPs, redundant infrastructure, or mirrored data across different POPs as a CDN. At the very basic level, a Google CDN simply means that popular content and web applications can be stored at all 70+ Google CDN POPs when content is requested. What if Google Cloud customers could create a compute instance, add storage and traditional CDN services in a one-stop-shop shopping experience? That’s a powerful mix.
Below is the data we gathered from different Google web pages:
Google CDN – Phase 1
- 70+ Edge POPs in 33 countries
- Edge caching platform sits on top of network infrastructure
- Google Global Cache: Elements within ISPs and Access Networks, enabling operators to deliver Google content to users
- Google is currently using edge caching software at its POPs, although they don’t state at how many POPs
- Thousands of miles of fiber optic cable, with some cable sitting under the Pacific Ocean
- “Google uses software-defined networking to route packets across the globe”
- “Google enables fast edge-caching so that user data is where it needs to be”
- Google built a meshed network to connect its POPs, similar to an MPLS meshed network
Google Resources: Network Introduction, Google Caching Overview, The Value of Content Distribution Networks, and Run on Google Infrastructure