[IP] Internet Pioneer Vinton Cerf Joins Google
Begin forwarded message:
From: Richard Forno <rforno@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: September 8, 2005 12:21:15 PM EDT
To: Infowarrior List <infowarrior@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Dave Farber
<dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Internet Pioneer Vinton Cerf Joins Google
Internet Pioneer Vinton Cerf Joins Google
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-Google-Cerf.html?
ei=5094&en=80
0aaa9373cd9458&hp=&ex=1126238400&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
Filed at 11:08 a.m. ET
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Google Inc. has hired Internet pioneer Vinton
Cerf to
float more ideas and develop new products, adding another weapon to the
online search engine leader's rapidly growing arsenal of intellect.
Cerf's defection from MCI Inc., announced Thursday, represents the
latest
coup for Mountain View-based Google, which has been amassing more
brainpower
as its payroll nearly quadrupled to 4,200 workers during the past two
years.
Along the way, Google has been raiding other companies, a tactic that
has
sparked a legal battle with one of its major rivals, software maker
Microsoft Corp. The two high-tech titans battled in court this week
over Kai
Fu-Lee's July resignation from Microsoft to oversee Google's efforts
to open
a research center in China.
In an interview, Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said few of the
company's recent hires have been as significant as Cerf, widely
regarded as
one of the Internet's creators because of his seminal work developing
the
network's essential communications protocols, TCP/IP, at Stanford
University
in the 1970s.
''He is one of the most important people alive today,'' said Schmidt,
who
has been friends with Cerf for more than 20 years. ''Vint has put his
heart
and soul into making the Internet happen. I know he is going to jump
right
in here and start shoveling out new ideas for Google.''
When he starts work at Google on Oct. 3, Cerf's official title will be
''chief Internet evangelist,'' but he is determined to be more than a
figurehead or detached visionary.
''What I have done in the past is not going to be important at Google,''
Cerf said during an interview. ''What's important at Google is what
you are
doing today and what you going to do tomorrow. That's the metric I
will be
measured by.''
Cerf will remain chairman of the Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and
Numbers, the oversight agency for Internet domain names.
He also will continue as a visiting scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, where he has been focusing on a very Google-like project --
trying to figure out a way to connect the Internet to outer space.
Cerf, 62, has spent the past 11 years at MCI, most recently as senior
vice
president of technology strategy. At MCI, he has worked on advanced
networking technologies including services that combine data, voice and
video and helped design MCI Mail, one of the Net's first commercial
applications.
He said MCI's pending $8.5 billion sale to Verizon Communications Inc.
didn't push him out the door. Instead, he said working at Google is
''really
my dream job.''
Google didn't disclose Cerf's salary. When Google lured Lee away from
Microsoft, it rewarded him with a $10 million compensation package,
including a $2.5 million signing bonus, according to court documents.
Cerf expects to spend much of his time developing new applications as
Google
continues to supplement the search engine that is core to the 7-year-old
company. In recent years, it has released free software to organize
computer
files, sort digital photos, generate maps and conduct Internet-based
phone
calls and text chats. It also launched a Web-based e-mail service called
Gmail.
''What Google has really been doing is building an entirely new
(computing)
infrastructure and whenever you do that, it creates opportunities for
new
applications,'' Cerf said.
Cerf will be a graybeard in Google's youthful culture, which has been
shaped
by the company's 32-year-old founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
But Cerf
doesn't expect to have trouble fitting in, even though his penchant for
wearing three-piece suits also figures to set him apart in Google's
jeans-clad atmosphere.
''I'm 62 going on 12 anyway,'' Cerf said. ''What's wonderful about
(Google)
is that as long as you bring ideas to the table, it doesn't matter
what else
is going on.''
Although he will report to Google engineering chief Alan Eustace in
Mountain
View, Cerf won't be based in Silicon Valley. He will be working out of a
Virginia office so he can stay close to his home.
^------
On The Net:
Google: http://www.google.com
Cerf's home page: http://www.mci.com/cerfsup
-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as roessler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To manage your subscription, go to
http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip
Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/