Google conducts FTTX network dress rehearsal at Stanford University

With much of the hype of Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) announcement in February that it would build out 1 Gbps fiber connections to support 50,000 to 500,000 in a few lucky communities a distant memory, it's finally making a move.

After conducting experiments of various Fiber to the X (FTTX) technologies at its own corporate campus, Google reported on its blog that it would experiment at nearby Stanford University's 850-home residential subdivision.

However, James Kelly, a product manager for Google, was quick to point that the Stanford University project, which will begin in 2011, is not a replacement for its broader community FTTX project. At the time the initiative was announced over 600 communities launched creative campaigns to win Google's broadband heart.  

"To be clear, this trial is completely separate from our community selection process for Google Fiber, which is still ongoing," Kelly said in the blog post. "As we've said, our ultimate goal is to build to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people, and we still plan to announce our selected community or communities by the end of the year."

Instead, Google will use the Stanford project as a "beta" deployment, taking what it learns to apply to a larger FTTX deployment.

For more:
- see the Google blog post here

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