The 25 most powerful people in networking
By John Gallant
1/05/98
Power, like fame, is a fleeting thing. Only a third of the people
named to the list of the 25 Most Powerful People in Networking in last
year's Power Issue returned to the 1998 list. Those perennials include the likes of Bill Gates - we suspect you'll see that name once or twice again in the future - John Chambers of Cisco, Netscape's Jim Barksdale and Eric Benhamou of 3Com. They're joined this year by the likes of Mory Ejabat of Ascend, Alex Mandl of Teligent and his former colleague Joe Nacchio of Qwest.
In addition to the write-ups on the 25 Most Powerful, you'll also find here a roster of 50 others who make a big difference in the enterprise network industry. What's more, we celebrate the return of the Power-O-Meter - our annual reader survey of the most powerful companies and people in networking.
So read on. After all, it's inspiring to rub elbows with the powerful.
Paul Allen
Founder, The Allen Group
It's not enough that Paul Allen cofounded Microsoft Corp., becoming a multibillionaire in the process, and remains Microsoft's second-largest shareholder. It's not enough that he owns the Portland Trailblazers basketball team and has launched five charitable organizations benefitting the arts, medical research and the environment, among other things.
No, if all that isn't enough to spur your feelings of inadequacy,
consider that Allen also is bankrolling the future of networking and the Internet through his investments in dozens of start-ups that are pushing the boundaries of technology. With over $1.5 billion invested to date in the 39 companies that comprise his Wired World portfolio, Allen and his venture capital experts are spreading the seed money from which may sprout the next Microsoft or Netscape Communications Corp.
Among the companies benefitting from Allen's largess: Certicom Corp., a security and cryptography firm based in Mississauga, Ontario; CyberSource Corp., a San Jose, Calif.-based electronic transaction processing and software delivery firm; Liquid Audio, Inc., an Internet music software company in Redwood City, Calif.; Net Perceptions, Inc., the Eden Prairie, Minn., company helping Web site operators target content to customers; Supercede, Inc., a Java development tools company in Bellevue, Wash., Microsoft's backyard; and DreamWorks, the Stephen Spielberg, David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg-led multimedia entertainment powerhouse.
Allen's vision is simple: We're becoming a connected planet, thanks to the emergence of high-bandwidth networks and less expensive, more accessible computing power. The companies he's investing in will provide the data processing, storage and transmission tools that will shoot digital information around this Wired World, as well as serve up the content and entertainment that will keep us all online.
C. Michael Armstrong
CEO, AT&T
Welcome to the 25 Most Powerful list, C. Michael Armstrong, and good luck.
Armstrong has taken command of the biggest ship in the
telecommunications ocean, but he's got to apply the rudder before it runs aground. AT&T has a big public relations problem these days, and no wonder. Former CEO Robert Allen botched the first try at hiring his replacement, with AT&T sending short-timer President John Walter packing in July after only nine months on the job. The company also has been hurt by the desertion of key executives such as Joe Nacchio and Alex Mandl, who certainly will come back to haunt their former employer (see their profiles).
The former chairman and CEO of Hughes Electronics Corp., Armstrong is viewed as a no-nonsense leader who knows how to turn things around. Those turnaround skills will be plenty handy at AT&T, which these days is widely viewed as operating without a clear strategy. Its growth is stalled, its foray into local markets has been an attack in name only and the company seems to be watching from the sidelines as more aggressive players such as WorldCom, Inc. define the new rules of the network game.
Still, AT&T remains a $53 billion machine that isn't as broken as some analysts would have you believe. If Armstrong pulls off the right
acquisitions and shores up AT&T's local, global and Internet portfolio, WorldCom's Bernie Ebbers may wish he had picked a fight with a smaller kid on the playground.
Jim Barksdale
President and CEO, Netscape Communications Corp.
If you wrote off Jim Barksdale and Netscape as merely the latest
victims of Microsoft, now might be a good time to drop a note of apology in the mail.
Sure, Microsoft may come to dominate the Internet, just like it
dominates desktop computing today. But as Barksdale is fond of saying, the Internet won't be a winner-take-all game. And he's positioning Netscape to profit no matter what happens with Microsoft.
Right now, Barksdale and company are on a roll. In its 1997 third
quarter, revenue rocketed up 50%, while profit jumped 53%. Not bad for a company that supposedly is being crushed by the giant from Redmond. What's more, the hand of fate - in the form of the U.S. Department of Justice - has reached into the Internet browser battle, putting a squeeze on Microsoft's plans.
Barksdale not only runs the Internet's most visible company, he's also a leader of the high-tech keiretsu - a Japanese term describing companies linked by mutual obligation and interest - that includes Scott McNealy's Sun Microsystems, Inc., Lou Gerstner's IBM, Larry Ellison's Oracle Corp. and Eric Schmidt's Novell, Inc. Their common interest: slowing Microsoft's relentless advance and ensuring the success of Java and open Internet computing.
As if protecting Netscape and the future of the Internet weren't
enough, Barksdale this year teamed up with top venture capitalist John
Doerr (see his profile) to cochair the Technology Network, a new political action committee aimed at giving Silicon Valley and the computing industry a greater voice in setting the national agenda.
Will Barksdale's job get any easier in '98? Not unless Bill Gates gets warm and cuddly all of a sudden. But Barksdale, the former chief
information officer of Federal Express Corp., is no stranger to big fights. His courtly demeanor masks a tough competitor who has no intention of walking away.
Eric Benhamou
President and CEO, 3Com Corp.
Talk about chutzpah. Eric Benhamou wasn't about to let Cisco run away with the networking business, and his determination to keep up with his Bay area rival, Cisco CEO John Chambers, was so great that he pulled off a cross-country merger this year with modem and remote access giant US Robotics.
To be sure, Benhamou is no stranger to mergers and acquisitions. He's engineered a dozen deals that have helped jack up 3Com's annual revenue to nearly $6 billion. Where once there was a Big Four in data networking, there's now a Big Two - with Cisco and 3Com looking down on Bay Networks, Inc. and Cabletron Systems, Inc.
But 3Com has more to worry about than Cisco. The company faces tough
competition in the enterprise and carrier/Internet service provider network markets from such bruisers as Lucent Technologies, Inc., Northern Telecom, Inc. and Ascend Communications, Inc. Benhamou also has to pull off the integration of 3Com and US Robotics, and that will take time and plenty of energy.
3Com is positioned in every segment of the high-tech marketplace, from the consumer realm with modems and PalmPilots, all the way up the food chain to the service provider market. Benhamou is trying to strengthen 3Com's position there with his backing of high-profile, high-speed routing
start-up Juniper Networks, Inc. 3Com is partnering with Siemens AG on
integrating voice and data technologies. That pair also joined forces with Newbridge Networks, Inc. back in October at NetWorld+ Interop '97 in Atlanta to develop advanced IP networking capabilities - so-called
Carrier-Scale Internetworking.
John Chambers
President and CEO,
Cisco Systems, Inc.
Like Bill Gates and Eric Benhamou, John Chambers is a fixture on the 25 Most Powerful list.
And why not? Chambers' Cisco rules the network equipmentbusiness.
It's the third leg of the so-called Wintelco - Windows (Microsoft),Intel Corp., Cisco - triumvirate that dominates the computing industry. Cisco's always been a fast-growth company, but Chambers seems able to keep the pedal to the metal even as the company gets bigger and bigger.
Like Gates, Chambers takes new challengers in stride. IP switching? No problem. Gigabit Ethernet? Ditto. New high-speed routers for the Internet? Well, we'll see about that one. Rivals such as Nortel, Lucent and 3Com have invested in Juniper Networks, just one of the new crop of high-speed router start-ups that plans to challenge Cisco for control of the Internet backbone.
But this still is largely a paper threat, and if you've kept tabs on Ipsilon Networks, Inc., which came on strong in the IP switching arena a couple years ago, you know how quickly Cisco can react to a threat.
Cisco continues to buy and build whatever it needs to keep its network portfolio current. The company is making a fairly smooth transition from routed networks to switched networks and, under Chambers' guidance, Cisco keeps building strong partnerships with key players. For example, Cisco is working with Electronic Data Systems Corp. (EDS) to provide companies with mainframe-to-Internet/intranet integration through the EDS NetConnect program. Cisco also has partnered with Microsoft and KPMG Peat Marwick to expand the consultancy's network integration practice. That builds on an
arrangement Cisco has to help Microsoft develop its Active Directory
Services, and a joint Intel-Microsoft-Cisco effort, aimed at spurring
development of multimedia applications.
Is Cisco untouchable? Hardly. The company faces threats from
traditional rivals such as Bay, 3Com and Cabletron, as well as competition from the likes of Ascend, Nortel and Lucent. But if you have to pick a guide for a trip through the networking jungle ahead, Chambers would be a pretty good choice.
Michael Dertouzos
Director, MIT Laboratory for Computer Science
No ivory-tower egghead, Dr. Michael Dertouzos is 'one of the most
influential practical thinkers on the current and future use of network technology,' says Frank Dzubeck, president of Communications Network Architects, Inc.
Dzubeck is just one of the many industry luminaries who cite Dertouzos as a thought-shaper and visionary. Dertouzos saw the potential of PCs and networking early on. In 1980 he predicted the emergence of an 'information marketplace' where the world would exchange ideas and products via networking. Sound like anything you know today? Maybe the Internet?
Dertouzos shepherds the groundbreaking computer and networking
research going on in the lab, from which have sprung developments such as Ethernet, time-sharing and RSA public cryptography. The lab also is home to Tim Berners-Lee and the World Wide Web Consortium, which controls the all-important standards for Web technologies.
Dertouzos has shared his ideas and concerns in six books. His latest work, What Will Be: How the New World of Information Will Shape Our Lives, lays out his ideas about the future of computing and communications.
His prediction: Never mind all the fluff on the Web today. The real value of networking will be in its ability to vastly improve corporate productivity in the years ahead. How much? Try a 300% improvement by the end of the 21st century - a productivity shift of a magnitude matched only by the industrial revolution.
If you get the chance to eavesdrop on Dertouzos, grab it. Knowledge is power.
John Doerr
Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
Every industry needs financiers, and among the venture capitalists who have funded the network computing industry, John Doerr is a legend. As the man behind the investments in Compaq Computer Corp., Intuit, Inc., Macromedia, Inc., Lotus Development Corp., Netscape, Sun and Symantec Corp., among others, Doerr has helped make KPCB a leader in the venture capital community. Among KPCB's recent investments are Resonate, Inc., which offers server management tools for the Internet and intranets; Gigabit Ethernet vendor Extreme Networks, Inc.; @Large, a provider of Web-based business applications; @Home Network, the Internet-over-cable-TV company; Concentric Network Corp., an ISP; cyber-bookseller Amazon.com; and Netiva Software, which is building Java-based products for developing 'Net and intranet applications.
Doerr personally serves on the boards of Intuit, Macromedia, Netscape, Platinum Software Corp., Shiva Corp., Sun, Academic Systems Corp., The Lightspan Partnership and Amazon.com.
Not content just to fund the network revolution, Doerr has pushed the once apolitical Silicon Valley into a more active role in the national political scene. With Netscape CEO Jim Barksdale, Doerr is serving as cochair of the fledgling Technology Network. It aims to 'facilitate strong working relationships between individuals and companies in the technology community and the nation's political leaders' - in other words, flex the money and muscle of the world's richest entrepreneurs.
The Technology Network is backed by a Who's Who of high-tech leaders, including John Chambers, CEO of Cisco, Intuit CEO Scott Cook, Sun's Scott McNealy, Marimba, Inc. CEO Kim Polese, and Hewlett-Packard Co.'s John Young.
With the outspoken and tireless Doerr, not to mention the savvy
Barksdale, at its helm, expect the Technology Network to become a potent political force. And why not? After all, Doerr seems to have the touch.
Bernie Ebbers
President and CEO, WorldCom, Inc.
Oh, Bernie!
With a single bold play - the $51 billion buyout bid for MCI
Communications Corp. - Bernie Ebbers and his lieutenants shook up AT&T, BT, Sprint Corp., GTE Communications Corp., all the regional Bell operating companies and the rest of the normally staid global telecom industry. Talk about rocking the status quo.
Unhampered by yesterday's network technology, Ebbers is building the network of tomorrow. With his buyouts of companies such as MFS and Brooks Fiber Properties, Inc., Ebbers continues to strengthen his cream-skimming local-loop holdings. Meanwhile, his acquisitions of UUNET Technologies, Inc., ANS Communications, Inc. and CompuServe Corp.'s network operations add more and more bulk to his Internet holdings. With MCI on board, Ebbers will have what all the providers dream of: strong local, long-distance and Internet offerings aimed at a new world of data communications.
Ebbers' vision isn't without risk. After all, when you stir the pot, you can't always predict how the mixture will react. Ebbers is stretching WorldCom's stock thin to make the MCI deal work, and the buyout faces long, tough regulatory reviews. If the deal falls apart, GTE and others are waiting in the wings to snap up MCI. Even if the MCI deal goes through, Ebbers has slapped his rivals awake and there's no telling how they will respond. An AT&T/GTE merger, for example, could make it much tougher for Ebbers to control the telecom landscape.
But don't expect Ebbers to lie awake at night worrying. Ebbers has proven time and again that he's willing to take risks to keep building the WorldCom empire.
Mory Ejabat
President and CEO,
Ascend Communications, Inc.
He doesn't appear on the keynote circuit quite as often as say, Bill Gates or John Chambers, but low-profile Mory Ejabat has quietly built a networking powerhouse that is challenging Cisco, as well as carrier equipment giants Nortel and Lucent.
In June, Ascend completed its $3.7 billion acquisition of Cascade
Communications Corp., a marriage of two fiesty start-ups that, in an
unlikely scenario, made deep inroads into the conservative stronghold of the carrier market. Ascend is a remote access leader and claims to be the No. 1 provider of ATM and frame relay equipment to service providers worldwide. Its equipment also runs big pieces of the Internet.
Cascade wasn't Ejabat's first buyout. He's also grabbed up Whitetree, Inc., for ATM technology and expertise, StonyBrook Services, Inc., which made multivendor net management software, and NetStar, Inc., which provided technology for a gigabit router that Ascend is using to threaten Cisco in the Internet backbone.
Ejabat is looking to position Ascend as a strong player in the
emerging xDSL marketplace, and he wants Ascend to be ready to handle voice as well as data in the networks of tomorrow. With Cisco, Nortel, Lucent and lots of other strong competitors vying for his turf, Ejabat will have plenty to do in the year ahead. Based on his showing so far, he can handle the workload.
The Federal Judiciary
The Federal Communications Commission is supposed to be in the
driver's seat when it comes to telecom reform. But don't tell that to the federal judiciary.
Owing to the vagaries of the 1996 Telecommunications Reform Act, an overloaded FCC docket and the deep pockets and litigious nature of the carriers, federal judges are playing a big role in deciding which of the FCC's reform rule-makings actually take effect.
Cases in point: In a classic states rights battle, the 8th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis, in July sided with the local
exchange carriers (LEC) and the states in overturning key pricing
provisions in an FCC order outlining rules for the interconnection of LEC networks and those of would-be competitors.
In October, the same court knocked out another piece of the
interconnection order by ruling that the LECs don't have to rebundle
so-called network elements that competitors have purchased separately. The result of the two rulings is to effectively stall a big portion of the telecom reform effort.
The FCC and the courts always have sparred. In July, the U.S. Court of Appeals for Washington, D.C., overturned one piece of an FCC order on pay phone rates, and the courts also have had their say on the issue of whether
carriers must file tariffs.
The contradictory statements in the massive telecom reform bill give aggrieved companies plenty of room for legal play. And entrenched carriers have so much to lose with the advent of competition that they will jump on any opportunity to block reform in court.
So put the judges up there with the entrepreneurs, innovators and
venture capitalists among the power players in the network industry.
Manuel Fernandez
President and CEO, Gartner Group, Inc.
When Manuel Fernandez speaks, network buyers and other IT
professionals listen. Actually, it's not so much Fernandez himself, but the 2,300 consultants, analysts and other IT experts who tell Gartner's more than 9,000 clients which roads to take to networking and computing nirvana.
Gartner has become a half-billion dollar information services giant operating in more than 40 countries around the world. A good word from Gartner can get a start-up on its way to success, a questioning look from its networking or computing analysts can stop a vendor in its tracks.
Fernandez has overseen remarkable growth in both Gartner's financials and its prestige. He also integrated market researchers Dataquest, Inc. and Datapro Information Services Group into the Gartner fold after acquisitions. Gartner Group sells renewable subscription services, called continuous services, which discuss industry developments, review new products and technologies, and analyze trends. The company now has more than 90 such services and 100 Dataquest market research products.
All that information doesn't come cheap, but Gartner is able to
maintain an 85% annual renewal rate for its subscription services,
according to its Web site.
With the Internet/ intranet revolution upon us and the network
landscape getting more complicated, the future looks very strong indeed for Gartner. Among the many voices of opinion in the industry, Gartner's is the loudest, and network professionals are listening.
Bill Gates
Chairman, president and CEO, Microsoft Corp.
Usually, companies under the scrutiny of the U.S. Department of
Justice aren't the envy of their peers. But Gates and his Microsoft empire are so influential that even the weight of the Justice Department may not be enough to slow this software juggernaut.
Microsoft this year will extend its networking power into directory services, Web-based management, routing and virtual private networks. Many of these hooks will turn up in Windows NT 5.0 and Windows 98, which is set to ship in the first half of 1998, and in the next version of Microsoft Exchange. Because Microsoft operating systems are on 90% of the desktops out there, Microsoft will become the standard for directory services, Web-based management and other technologies by default. That's what the company is trying to do with its Internet Explorer browser. That's what makes the Justice Department cry foul. That's what makes Microsoft's competitors envious. That's what makes Microsoft and Bill Gates so powerful.
Lou Gerstner
Chairman, president and CEO, IBM
Lou Gerstner has made network-centric computing a cornerstone of IBM strategy. But more than just talking about network-centric computing, Gerstner's backing up his words through acquisitions, big research and development spending, and a genuine commitment to the Internet and Java.
Gerstner has in his possession a couple of crown jewels: Lotus and Tivoli Systems, Inc. Lotus is setting the standard for collaboration on the 'Net with its Lotus Notes and Domino software; Tivoli is in a dogfight with Computer Associates International, Inc. for leadership of enterprise IT management.
And then there's good ol' IBM. Big Blue is still king of the Data
Center. IBM mainframes are the vaults within which business critical
applications . . . no, entire businesses . . . reside.
Contrary to popular belief, business over the 'Net actually is using up more mainframe processing cycles, making mainframes a mainstay in the Internet/intranet paradigm. And IBM is dead serious about playing in this new world, otherwise it would not be backing Java and network computers so
vigorously.
So, while the PC revolution knocked this king from its throne years ago, the time is right for Big Blue to reassert itself in a big way in networking.
Andy Grove
Chairman, president and CEO, Intel Corp.
More than Cisco, more than Cabletron, more than Bay Networks, the
company that scares 3Com the most is . . . Intel.
Besides providing the microprocessors that drive most of the servers and desktops in the client/server world, Intel is pushing into networking in a big way with network interface cards, switches, server clustering and desktop management software. Hardware is Intel's game, and nobody knows more about maximizing manufacturing efficiency to pump out gear at low, low prices than Intel.
Witness the impact earlier this year on 3Com's stock when Intel
slashed the price of Ethernet adapters, 3Com's bread and butter.
Intel is going to put the squeeze on Cisco, Cabletron and Bay Networks as well by undercutting prices on Ethernet switches. Intel will force the Big Four to react to its pricing structure, which could wreak havoc on their profit margins, sales models and stock.
Andy Grove wrote the book about being paranoid in business. Paranoia is healthy, he claims. So is confidence. And Grove mixes equal parts paranoia and confidence.
The result is that Grove is spreading paranoia throughout the
networking industry. That's power.
John Hickey
Executive vice president, Technology Services, NASDAQ
Forget for a moment that NASDAQ, with listings that include Microsoft, Intel and Cisco, is the barometer of the high-tech industry. Forget for a moment that NASDAQ may hold the blue-chip stocks for the next millennium.
Consider that NASDAQ recently became the first U.S. stock market ever to trade one billion shares in a single day. Consider that, despite this record-setting volume, NASDAQ provided uninterrupted trading on its 5,500 listings from opening to closing bell.
At the same time, NASDAQ was broadcasting continuous, real-time price quotes for all its listed companies, again without interruption or delay. This continuous real-time service extends to the ticker's Web site, nasdaq.com.
John Hickey runs the technology behind the technology ticker that
processes 1,200 messages and 160,000 shares per second. He's the one who decides which products, designs and resiliency features will keep a key piece of the nation's economy afloat.
He's also the one who will plan the upgrade that will enable the
NASDAQ network to handle four billion shares per day by the year 2000.
Hickey is the one who makes sure that, even if the market crashes, the
network behind the market won't.
Terrell Jones
Senior vice president and CIO, SABRE Interactive
Planning a vacation trip used to be a hassle. Not anymore.
If online travel services like Travelocity or easySabre have made your vacation planning easier, you can thank Terrell Jones. Jones is the chief network architect behind these consumer-oriented services, as well as the brains behind overall technology deployment at The SABRE Group.
Jones' influence stretches far beyond The SABRE Group. Not only is the company a world leader in the electronic distribution of travel-related products and services, but it also is a leading provider of information technology solutions for the travel and transportation industries.
Jones' experience in building and maintaining The SABRE Group's
17-mainframe, 130,000-terminal global network can be valuable to other
travel and transportation companies. So whether you're one of the more than three million registered users of SABRE Interactive or not, chances are Terry Jones has had a hand in helping you plan your vacation or - sorry - work travel.
As The SABRE Group broadens its customer base by expanding to other industries, Terry Jones' networking insight and influence - and power - will expand as well.
Charles Lee
Chairman and CEO, GTE
So the MCI deal didn't go down. So what?
GTE still is a power to be reckoned with in local, long-distance and Internet services. Whether as a potential buyer or buyout candidate, GTE has the assets that partners want.
GTE's $616 million purchase of BBN Corp. was a coup. BBN was the
pioneering company behind the Internet, and those visionaries now work for GTE and Charles Lee.
Instant Internet, indeed.
GTE also coughed up another $485 million this year to acquire a
13,000-mile slice of Qwest Communications Corp.'s fiber-optic network. This will let GTE extend its network to 92 metropolitan areas in late 1998.
These deals are part of Lee's bold plan to move beyond the industry's perception of GTE as little more than a LEC. Indeed, GTE now offers long-distance in all 50 states - without MCI's help. And the company also is bulking up its wireless offerings.
In Lee's grand scheme, GTE's revenue will reach between $34 billion and $38 billion by the year 2001. That's in contrast to $21.3 billion in 1996.
Lee failed in his bid to acquire MCI. But that does not mean MCI
should stop looking over its shoulder. In fact, if the WorldCom/MCI deal fails the tough regulatory reviews ahead, Lee may just swoop down to pick up the broken pieces.
Dawn Lepore
Executive vice president and CIO, Charles Schwab & Company, Inc.
Think those online stock trading services are threatening the big guns of the brokerage world? Don't try telling it to Dawn Lepore who, as CIO and a member of Schwab's Management Committee, has led the discount brokerage's aggressive foray into electronic trading. The e.Schwab Web service has won over more than a million customers and has gained more than $73 billion in customer assets. The service has garnered accolades for its design and usability.
Then again, speed and innovation are nothing new to Lepore, who has won plenty of accolades herself.
Gartner Group handed her its Excellence in Technology Award, and she was named one of the Bay Area's Most Powerful Corporate Women in 1995 by the San Francisco Chronicle. That was a good year for Lepore: she made Network World's list of the 25 Most Powerful People in Networking for the first time.
Prior to striding into the world of electronic trading, Lepore led major reorganizations of Schwab's computing platforms and its IS department as well, all in an effort to make the company more responsive to change. Lepore has pushed to make information more accessible - and better organized - for customer service representatives. She's also pushed the boundaries by using voice response technology |
