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 equipment business.
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.
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