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Google looks to keep internet closer to home to improve speed

Several companies, led by Google, have proposed an extension they hope will get internet users to nearby servers more quickly, cutting down on loading time of pages and the inconvenience to users. The technology in question – called the domain name system – translates language based URLs, such as www.abc.com, into the numerical internet protocol addresses that the devices and internet understand, according to a Google blog posting. The hope of the new plan would allow computers to communicate with servers that are closer to them, eliminating “travel” time for the information. The way the system is set up today, according to Google, the address used is often that of a DNS server which may be countries away, as they are typically managed by internet service providers or may be a third-party provided server. The proposed extension, called client IP information in DNS requests, would send the first three quarters of a user's internet protocol address with the DNS request. This would provide “enough information to the authoritative nameserver to determine your network location, without affecting your privacy,” Google said. The company said it hopes to see the proposal become reality in the next few months.