Google's SPDY: Accelerating the Web

A key working group for Internet standards is favoring Google's SPDY technology. If implemented, the new technology could speed up the World Wide Web by up to 55 percent.

The implications for IT are sweeping. A faster Web would speed up practically everything that extends beyond the local network. The improvement might perhaps have the greatest impact on cloud computing, simply because it involves moving so much data through the Web.

Speeding up HTTP

As reported by Stephen Shankland at CNET, the head of the HTTPbis Working Group lent support to the Google initiative. HTTPbis is part of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). It is responsible for improvements to the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). Familiar as the "http://" at the beginning of every URL, it is a backbone of the World Wide Web.

Said HTTPbis chairman Mark Nottingham, "There seems to be broad agreement that the time is ripe to start work on a new version of HTTP in the IETF, and that it should happen in this Working Group." In Google tests, SPDY has demonstrated speed improvements ranging from 28-43 percent over a 2Mbps DSL line to 44-55 percent over a 4Mbps broadband line.

Co-inventor Mike Belshe admitted that the name SPDY does not actually stand for anything, beyond evoking the word speedy.

The Need for Speed

Some time will pass before we all experience this speed improvement. The process of promulgating and adopting standards is a lengthy one. It is particularly complex and delicate when the standard involves the most basic functioning of the Web. Google, however, has already built the technology into its own Chrome browser.

Inevitably, the upgrade will also involve some controversy. Critics such as FreeBSD programmer Poul-Henning Kamp argue that the proposal is too narrow for a prospective HTTP/2.0. But the endorsement of HTTPbis can be expected to give the proposed new standard a major leg up.

The great significance of this development is that it is software-based, and thus does not need to await the spread of a new generation of hardware technology. The improvement can be built into a given platform, such as a browser, as soon as it is coded in and the update is distributed. So once adopted as a standard, its adoption can proceed quickly.

Speeding up the entire World Wide Web has such sweeping impact that it is difficult to pin down precisely where in IT the impact will be felt most strongly. Data transfers that employ their own specialized protocols will not be directly affected but may still benefit from faster overall flow through the pipes. On the other hand, faster connections may simply invite even greater data traffic. From an IT perspective, as for all Internet users, a faster Web will generally be a good thing.