CNET News is reporting that Google will name former Morgan Stanley executive Benjamin Fried as it's CIO in May, replacing the departed Douglas Merrill who left for EMI last month.

So what does it take to be CIO at Google? Apparently a programming background doesn't hurt. Fried comes from Morgan Stanley's Application Infrastructure group, and previously had a hand in some work from NCSA and CERN on the original World Wide Web software. That sounds like exactly the sort of background you'd think Google would look for in a CIO; the Doug Merrill had more of a security background, which is certainly relevant, but not, well, geeky enough, really.

Fried also has staying power on his side. He has been at Morgan Stanley for the past 14 years, which is something three lifetimes in this business. Google may have been looking for someone dependable who wouldn't run off with enticing rock stars when they came calling.