Google Watch

Google just announced that it hired Vint Cerf, the “Father of the Internet.” He’s new position is Chief Internet Evangelist. Groan.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sept. 8, 2005–Google Inc. today announced that it hired Vinton (Vint) Cerf, the longtime technologist who is widely known as a “founding father” of the Internet, as Chief Internet Evangelist.
“Vint Cerf is clearly one of the great technology leaders of our time,” said Google CEO Eric Schmidt of Cerf, who co-designed the TCP/IP protocols that were used to develop the Internet’s underlying architecture. “His vision for technology helped create entire industries that have transformed many parts of our lives. We are honored to welcome him to Google.”
Cerf will continue his leadership in the Internet community, and help Google build network infrastructure, architectures, systems, and standards for the next generation of Internet applications.
“Google has already made tremendous strides in making access to information on the web a reality for users across the globe, but we’re still in the Internet’s early innings,” he said. “This medium will enjoy wider-spread use than television, radio or phones, and will ultimately expand beyond planet Earth. Google has always believed in doing things differently, and I believe that places us in a unique position to help bring even the wildest Internet visions into reality.”
Cerf joins Google from MCI, where he led technology advancements since 1982, with a break to return to research at the Corporation for National Research Initiatives from 1986 to 1994. On his return to MCI in 1994, he helped to put MCI on the Internet map. With Robert Kahn, he recently received the ACM’s A.M. Turing Award, considered “the Nobel Prize for computing,” for his achievements in computer networking. Cerf is also working on the Interplanetary Network, a project of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, which aims to extend the Internet into outer space for planet-to-planet communications. He will also continue in his role as the Chairman of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

Business Week has more on Cerf’s role.

Cerf’s hiring comes on the heels of several moves that suggest Google is encroaching on telecom turf. In the past year, the Internet giant has dipped its toe in the Wi-Fi market, sponsoring hot zones in San Francisco and New York City.
HIGH AMBITIONS. Also, Google has been reported to be buying up chunks of dark, or unused, fiber-optic capacity employed to transmit calls and data at high speeds. And in August it joined the stampede of Internet companies looking to provide voice-over-Internet phone calls when it launched a new instant-messaging tool.
Indeed, it’s beginning to look like Google harbors ambitions to use the Internet and search tools for delivering everything from voice and data communications to audio and video files. This would resonate with Cerf, who has often predicted voice-over-Internet services will dramatically reshape the phone industry.

Posted by on September 8th, 2005 at 11:17 am


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