Google Inc. has hired Internet pioneer Vinton Cerf to its product development team.

Cerf left MCI to join Google which has been recruiting talents aggressively as its payroll nearly quadrupled to 4,200 workers during the past two years.

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.

By: DocMemory
Copyright © 2023 CST, Inc. All Rights Reserved