How does Google docs handle the updating process

Does anyone here knows how the mighty google handles people updating their google doc files.
When many people are working on a doc at the sametime, when one updates a cell in a spreadsheet that cell update appears on every version of that doc.

How is this acheived??? http requests /Ajax requests?? or are google using some propriety code for doing so.

Any thoughts, or if anyone has experience, this would provide a good discusion, as im trying to produce a simlar app.