  Due to the proximity, the neutral hydrogen belonging to Centaurus A can be
observed at high resolution with good sensitivity. This allows to study the
morphology and kinematics in detail in order to understand the evolution of
this radio-loud source (e.g. merger history, AGN activity). At the same time,
it is important to compare the results to other sources of the same class (i.e.
early-type galaxies in general and radio galaxies in particular) to see how
Centaurus A fits into the global picture of early-type/radio galaxy evolution.
The amount of HI, the morphology of a warped disk with HI clouds surrounding
the disk and the regular kinematics of the inner part of the HI disk are not
unusual for early-type galaxies. The growing evidence that mergers are not
necessarily responsible for AGN activity fits with the observational result
that the recent merger event in Centaurus A is not connected to the current
phase of activity. Based on these results, we conclude that Centaurus A has
typical neutral hydrogen properties for an early-type and radio galaxy and it
can therefore - from an HI perspective - be seen as a typical example of its
class.
