With the many moves Google has made to launch awesome free services over the past year, including Google Talk, Gmail and Picasa, it doesn't surprise me the Internet giant is a constant target of rumors. But if the latest buzz is to be believed, Google's next wave of acquisitions and launches may be some of the most interesting and exciting ones yet.

Yesterday, Google launched its newest free product offering Google Secure Access, software described as providing more secure wireless Internet connections.

Where the rumors about Google got started: The company made a reference to Google Wi-Fi, linking it to the movement toward wireless Internet networking. To that end, Google has acknowledged launching free Wi-Fi hotspots in San Francisco and has been shopping as of late for unused fiberoptic cable lines. Google has been further reviewing bids for building a nationwide DWDM (dense wavelength division multiplexing) fiber network, one theoretically capable of terabit speeds, and at the bargain basement price of under $100 million. Apparently, this could even be up and running in months, according to their sources.

By moving into wireless Internet networking could transform Google into a major service provider, perhaps leading to speculation by some business analysts the company may bid on AOL to blunt a takeover by Microsoft and protect its huge revenue stream (almost $400 million annually) from its largest partner.

Last week, reports surfaced that Microsoft is in talks with Time Warner executives to merge AOL with MSN, or at the very least switching its search engine services from Google to MSN.

If the rumors and speculation turn out to being anywhere close to true and Google can pull this off, the news is great for all of us and hopefully providing wider Internet access free one day to most everyone.

CNET News.com September 19, 2005

Wired News September 20, 2005

Washington Post September 20, 2005