A colleague of mine was kind enough to call to my attention this article from the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) that briefly describes a proposal by Google called OpenEdge. Some comments in the article suggest that Google’s proposal is a violation of the very concepts of network neutrality for which Google’s policy representatives in Washington and elsewhere have been the most vocal advocates. It looks to me more like traditional content delivery models taken directly to the carrier network. I’ve tried to make the case before that traditional models for content delivery acceleration such as services provided by Akamai and similar companies are not a real violation of the concept of network neutrality (or at least perhaps my own narrow and admittedly vague and evolving definition of the concept).
Googles proposed arrangement with network providers, internally called OpenEdge, would place Google servers directly within the network of the service providers, according to documents reviewed by the Journal. The setup would accelerate Googles service for users. Google has asked the providers it has approached not to talk about the idea, according to people familiar with the plans.
via Google Wants Its Own Fast Track on the Web – WSJ.com.
