Google and OpenDNS join forces to speed up the internet

The Global Internet Speedup scheme aims to promote co-operation between recursive DNS services and content delivery networks

Google, OpenDNS and other firms are to embark on a collaboration that aims to make the internet faster.

There are seven companies in total, and the initiative is called The Global Internet Speedup.

The scheme aims to promote co-operation between recursive domain name server (DNS) operations and content delivery networks (CDNs).

This collaboration is being co-ordinated through an open IETF proposed standard called 'edns-client-subnet', which helps decrease internet latency and congestion, increase transfer speeds and help the internet to scale faster and further.

According to The Global Internet Speedup web site, DNS is like the phone book for the internet. It converts human readable domains, such as www.opendns.com, to an IP address, such as 208.69.38.160, that your computer can connect to.

"But what happens when you look up a business in the phone book and there are 50 locations? You probably want the location closest to you.

"When trying to reach a web site that exists in 50 locations around the world, you would want the same thing to happen. You want to be sent to the closest, fastest or least congested location automatically. Figuring out which location is closest is not possible with DNS alone," the firms wrote in a statement.

They went on to explain that, today, if you're using OpenDNS or Google Public DNS and visiting a web site or using a service provided by one of the participating networks or CDNs in the Global Internet Speedup then a truncated version of your IP address will be added into the DNS request.

"The internet service or CDN will use this truncated IP address to make a more informed decision regarding how it responds so that you can be connected to the most optimal server. With this more intelligent routing, customers will have a better internet experience with lower latency and faster speeds. Best of all, this integration is being done using an open standard that is available for any company to integrate into their own platform."