In what appears to be yet another coup for the world's most valuable media company, Google has hired the legendary Vinton Cerf to be its chief "Internet evangelist".

The 62-year-old Cerf is widely known as the "father of the Internet" for his role in developing the TCP/IP standards while at Stanford in the 1970s. As a co-designer of the essential protocols that form the basic architecture of the Internet, Cerf is credited with creating entire industries that have literally transformed technology as well as the lives of people across the world.

Google continues its aggressive path to seek the best talent in the industry, raiding other companies for top talent. Cerf will leave his post at MCI to go to work for Google, now worth an estimated $80 billion.

Cerf is thought to be interested in software that will make use of the incredible amount of data available on the Internet. Cerf, will be charged with exploring new Internet applications for the Web search company.

Cerf also currently serves as chairman of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a role he hopes to retain. However, that role initially gives the appearance of a conflict of interest. Since Google serves as a registrar of Internet domain names, it technically has business interests governed by ICANN.