The deal is the richest of the internet upswing, about the same size as Cisco's acquisition of Webex, and it's good news, as we said when Google's interest in the online ad company was rumored, for online publishers. With Google's clout, the banner ad exchange being planned by Doubleclick has much stronger prospects. Doubleclick handles the logistics of display advertising for more sites than any other provider of ad "serving" — and Google has the largest network of advertisers. Together, they'll be able to do for banner ads what Google's Adwords program has achieved for text link advertising. Thank the internet gods that Google is focusing again on internet advertising, where much remains to be done; and that Doubleclick did not go to Microsoft, which would have let the online ad company languish.

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