Google Chosen More and More for Peripheral Applications

Every time a new company adopts Google as a mapping interface is not cause for yet another blog post. I just found this one intriguing: Calix, a company that delivers solutions to the telecommunication industry specifically for network management, has chosen Google as its mapping interface to its Calix Management System. Usually, when I think of telecommunication network management I think of GE, Telecordia, Telvent, etc. and these vendors have chosen solutions from Oracle or ESRI. Now, I don’t know if Calix doesn’t need much mapping and therefore chose Google, but their statement within the press release notes otherwise: "Unlike virtually all other element management system topology-management functions, which rely on static maps or geographic information systems (GIS), Google Maps for Enterprise provides a rich, interactive interface that includes panning, zooming, satellite images and street-level views (in certain locations)." Is this another datapoint for "the Googling of GIS" or simply a need for simple map rendering within the context of simple data display needs. But Calix is touting topology management as one of their core capabilities and it is strange to see Google and topology in the same context.