The Alexander Graham Bell of the late 20th century is leaving the telecom business and getting his "dream job" at Google:
Google 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, announced Thursday, represents the latest coup for Google, which has been amassing more brainpower as its payroll nearly quadrupled to 4,200 workers during the past two years.
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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."
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He said MCI's pending $8.5 billion sale to Verizon Communications didn't push him out the door. Instead, he said working at Google is "really my dream job."
Don't doubt that Google is going to get maximum mileage out of this hire.
