Google And Facebook Rewire The Internet As FCC Dithers

(Photo credit Eris Stassi via Flickr/Creative Commons)

Giant tech companies are a lot like submarines. They glide into new areas as quietly as possible, saying nothing to the public. But every now and then, interesting bubbles make it to the surface - in the form of odd new job openings that appear in the careers corner of their websites. The latest case in point: what Google and Facebook are cooking up as they rewire the Internet.

In their earliest years, Google and Facebook tolerated the same Internet architecture that suffices for all the rest of us. But as Google and Facebook got bigger, they began to develop their own proprietary workarounds - so they could get unimaginably big volumes of data to individual users as quickly, reliably and cheaply as possible.

Think of Henry Ford, in the 1920s, building his own steel mills and buying up his own iron-ore reserves, so that he could achieve fuller control of everything needed to make his cars. For the Internet's biggest content companies, the modern-day version of controlling the whole value chain involves creating an Internet backbone of sorts, installing thousands of servers in locations closer to customers, and, in Google's case, rolling out direct-to-customers Internet service.

Take a close look at the language in this Google job ad for an IP (Internet Protocol) Architect. Google begins by noting: 'We oversee the web's largest IP backbone ... A huge amount of global Internet traffic depends on us, and on the technical masterminds who keep us running.' Now Google is looking for someone to 'take responsibility for the analysis, definition, and continued development of the end-to-end IP Architecture for Google.'

Or consider this job ad for City Managers to help guide the roll-out of Google Fiber, the Mountain View, Calif., company's own customer-Internet service. As Google explains, 'Your job will be to support our local outreach to city and state government, utilities, businesses, and organizations. Since our go-to-market strategy is grassroots focused and dependent on joint programs and events with local partners, your role is integral to the overall business of Google Fiber.'

Facebook, meanwhile, is looking for a Network Planner to join its edge planning and procurement team. (Edge is the standard term in Internet architecture for content providers that, at least in the old days, sat on the 'edge' of networks built by other entities.) Read the job description carefully, and you'll see that Facebook's ambitions involve much more than being just a minor dot on the edge of someone else's canvas.

Quoting from Facebook's ad, whoever gets the job will be expected to 'define and provide business justification for new or expansion of existing Points of Presence (PoPs) and evolving Edge architecture.' Or, if you prefer, 'assist product development of multiple Content Distribution platforms in collaboration with Facebook Infrastructure teams and ISPs (Internet service providers) around the globe.'