There has been plenty of talk about Google buying dark fiber and/or building a WiFi network - much of the rumbles provided by Om Malik. A sign of Google's strategic direction is revealed with information about Google Secure Access, which provides for a secure WiFi connection using Google's VPN and its servers. The free beta is only available in San Francisco. Google says GSA is aimed at making WiFi traffic secure by encrypting it and sending traffic through its servers to the Interent. Data coming back to the user is encrypted and also sent through Google's servers. Sounds like a nice way of building goodwill but clearly Google is trying to establish a tighter relationship with its users and their surfing habits. A must read for anyone interesting in what Google may or may not be doing in terms of builidng a nationwide network in the U.S. is a story on IPMedia Monitor that ran on Sept. 19. It provides as good a take on what Google has quietly been doing behind the scenes, including RFPs it has been sending out.

With apologies to Bell Canada's Eugene Roman and BellSouth CTO Bill Smith, the star of VON's morning session was Niklas Zennstrom, who sold this little company called Skype recently. He was supposed to give a keynote via videoconference but it was delayed because of a technical glitch that apparently had nothing to do with SkypeVideo. It is one of the big mysteries of the VOIP world why Zennstrom's unable or unwilling to come to the U.S. It's thought he's trying to avoid being served with a lawsuit by the music industry due to his involvement with Kazaa but this urban myth has never been confirmed. Perhaps with a few dollars and eBay shares in his bank account, Zennstrom can now "resolve" his U.S. "issues" so he can actually spend some time with his new bosses in California. Stuart Henshell, who waited around until the video problems were resolved, said Zennstrom failed to wow the audience. Frankly, there's something uninspiring about someone talking via video, particularly after they've been swallowed.

Perhaps the most eye-catching thing about Fall VON is the size of the Digium/Asterisk booth, which dominates the exhibition floor. My first take - which proved to be wrong was that Digium raised a new round of venture capital but what the open-source IP-PBX company has done is include several companies that are creating applications on the Asterisk platform. I had some time to sit down with CEO Mark Spencer, who said he's surprised by how actively telecom equipment makers are testing or adopting Asterisk - a far cry from the Linux world where Microsoft spent considerable time ignoring it. It was also interesting to hear Spencer's views on the eBay-Skype deal. Aside from being blown away by the valuation, Spencer said Skype's huge success is simply that it works. This is something he believes the VOIP industry has sight of as it becomes lost with establishing standards.