October 03, 2010

Google's speed need: 'instantaneous Internet'

San Francisco Chronicle - In late 2007, Google engineers set out to test a hunch.

For about a million oblivious users, the company throttled back the delivery of search results by 100 to 400 milliseconds for several weeks. Less than half a second is barely perceptible, but the results were unmistakable.

Use of the search engine dropped by 0.2 to 0.6 percent on average during the experiment, worsening as it went on.

If 0.6 percent sounds trivial, consider this: Had search advertising dropped off commensurately, and there's every reason to believe it would have, the delay would have cost Google about $900 million in revenue last year.

The lesson: Speed matters. A lot.

That's why the Mountain View company is dedicating huge resources to an audacious goal: the instantaneous Internet, an experience every bit as immediate as traditional media.

"Browsing should actually feel like flipping the pages of a magazine," said Bill Coughran, senior vice president of engineering at Google. "The Web, in general, is very far away from that."

Google believes that the more it can turbocharge its products, and the Internet itself, the more people will search, surf, watch videos, download music and engage in other activities that will become possible as the Web breaks new speed barriers. (Massive multiplayer holographic video games anyone?)

Google is by no means the only company promoting a faster Web, but as the dominant Internet business, it's using its industry clout and bank account to goad webmasters, Internet service providers and even users to tighten the nuts and bolts of today's Internet, and to think big about tomorrow's.

"Other companies maybe pay lip service to this, but they don't take it to the lengths that Google takes it," said Ray Valdes, an analyst with Gartner. "Their view is that if the Web wins, Google wins."  more...