Tag: Google

Sonic.net Selected by Google to Operate Stanford Fiber Network

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SANTA ROSA, CA – December 13th, 2010

Sonic.net today announced it has been selected to operate and support the trial fiber-to-the-home network Google is building at Stanford University. This experimental project will test new fiber construction and operation methods, while delivering full gigabit speeds to approximately 850 faculty and staff owned homes on campus.

Sonic.net will manage operation of the network, provide customer service and support and perform on-site installation and repair. Sonic.net is Northern California’s leading independent Internet service provider.

The Stanford trial network is completely separate from the community selection process for Google’s Fiber for Communities project, which is still ongoing. Google’s ultimate goal is to build a fiber-to-the-home network that reaches at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people, and it plans to announce its selected community or communities by the end of the year.

Sonic.net currently operates California’s largest open Internet access network, offering services today primarily via next-generation copper. The Santa Rosa-based company previously announced its own plans to deliver a fiber-to-the-home network in Sebastopol, Calif., and looks forward to working with Google on the innovative gigabit network being planned for the Stanford community. Sonic.net’s open network provides services to seventy other Internet service providers delivering broadband services across a thirteen state territory.

Construction of the Stanford fiber network will begin in early 2011.

“Sonic.net is an innovative ISP that brings top notch experience to the Google Fiber for Communities project,” said James Kelly, Google Fiber for Communities product manager. “Their open access experience and well regarded customer service team will play a key role as we kick off our beta network at Stanford.”

“We are very excited to have the opportunity to work with Google on this project,” said Dane Jasper, CEO & Co-Founder of Sonic.net. “It’s a great fit for our existing capabilities, and will help us develop new skills as we move our own network toward fiber.“

About Sonic.net Inc.

Sonic.net, founded in 1994, provides broadband access to consumers and wholesale partners in a thirteen state region. Sonic.net’s leading product is “Fusion”, which combines unlimited broadband and unlimited local and long distance home telephone service. Sonic.net adopted a European pricing model for “Fusion,” forgoing the common practice of limiting a customer’s Internet speed based on pricing tiers. For $39.95, every Fusion customer gets the maximum Internet speed possible at their location — up to 20Mbps — plus a traditional phone line with unlimited U.S. calling. For more information, visit www.sonic.net.

About Google Inc.

Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.

Contacts:

Dane Jasper
Sonic.net
dane@corp.sonic.net

Dan Martin
Google
danmartin@google.com

One nice new feature

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Click for the comic intro to the Chrome browser

Click for the comic intro to the Chrome browser

For a number of years, my desktop PC has spent most of it’s time running just three basic programs. A web browser, an email client and a ssh client (unix remote terminal).

So does it matter what the OS is? Not really, as long as it’s reliable and secure. What matters is those three programs.

I’ve been using Firefox and Thunderbird as my primary applications for some time, and I have a love/hate relationship with each. They’ve both got shortcomings and real issues, but so far, they’re each the best option.

With the browser being one of these important applications, I am always interested when something new comes along to shake up the status quo. Without new entrants, there is little innovation, so Google’s Chrome browser is an interesting new entry. Alongside the IE/Firefox duopoly, it’s not the only other browser, there are Safari and Opera – that’s about all that comes to mind.

But, Chrome has Google behind it – and they have been thinking of the web itself as applications for a long time. This concept, plus a tidy interface and some nice features look like a win so far.

My favorite feature so far is ability to grab a tab and tear it off into a new window. In IE and Firefox, you’re stuck in the application, viewing one tab at a time. When you are watching something (a video, for example) and want to view it while doing something else, you’ve got to open a whole new window, move that URL in, and start the video over.

Chrome lets you grab any tab and drag it out, creating a new window, without interruption of the video or application. Perfect! I’ve got my windows concept back and can juggle “applications” (web pages) however I like on my desktop!

Chrome is beta, but you can use it alongside your current browser without any problems. Play with both, compare, and use what you like best. Then, as new releases of Firefox, Safari, etc come out, try them too – hopefully we will continue to see innovation driven by competition.

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