Google Global Cache is now available in Cuba

Google Global Cache is now available in Cuba
BY NORA GÁMEZ TORRES
ngameztorres@elnuevoherald.com

Cubans can access Google sites faster now that Google Global Cache (GGC)
service is available on the island, an internet analysis firm announced
Wednesday.

"GGC nodes in Cuba finally went active in the past 24hrs," Doug Madory,
director of Dyn Research, wrote in an email. "It is a milestone as this
is the first time an outside internet company has hosted anything in Cuba."

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Google Global Cache allows users to store content from Google services
such as Gmail and YouTube on local servers, in this case those of the
state telecommunications monopoly ETECSA. The agreement between
Alphabet, Google's parent company, and ETECSA was signed in Havana in
December.

"This will only improve Cuban users experience with Google webpages,
with the most notable improvement being in loading YouTube videos,"
Madory explained. "Video is very traffic intensive and caching popular
videos locally will improve load time and relieve strain on ETECSA's
congested international links."

After former President Barack Obama started a process of normalization
with Cuba, Google has made several attempts to improve internet access
on the island, which has one of the slowest connections on the planet,
despite the existence of submarine cable ALBA-1. Internet penetration is
also one of the lowest in Latin America and ETECSA is one of the
companies most criticized by Cubans.

However, the Cuban government rejected a more ambitious Google plan to
expand the internet on the island. Google then opened a technology
center with free high-speed internet service in the studio of artist
Alexis Leiva Machado, known as "Kcho".

The password to access the internet at the studio: AbajoElBloqueo
(Downwiththeblockade).

Follow Nora Gámez Torres on Twitter: @ngameztorres

Source: Google Global Cache is now available in Cuba | Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article146903509.html