Remember when high availability data centers like military ones had satellite dishes. With the growth of satellite connectivity dishes may be coming back to be part data centers. WSJ reports on Google buying a satellite-imaging startup.

The Skybox team will initially work with Google's Maps business. Google Maps uses images from roughly 1,000 sources currently. Most of these images of the Earth are updated every few months or years. If Skybox can help Google update this information daily, it could help people respond to incidents, such as disasters, more quickly and help direct responses.

However, longer term, Skybox's technology may also help with Google's goal of spreading Internet access more widely.

"Skybox's mission is about more than just imaging," said David Cowan, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, which invested in Skybox. "Skybox is disrupting how satellites are deployed in space and that has implications for the types of global communication challenges that Google plans to address."