And with it, yet another:
Management:
Cisco Systems Taps a Pioneer For Tech Post
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By Lee Gomes
Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
If other people had taken her advice nearly a decade ago, Judy Estrin might
be known today for inventing one of the most lucrative businesses in high
technology.
They didn't, but Ms. Estrin is ending up with one of the top jobs in the
computer-networking industry anyway. Late yesterday, the 43-year-old
Ms. Estrin was named chief technology officer of Cisco Systems Inc., of
San Jose, Calif. The position had been held by Edward R. Kozel, 42, who
is easing into a part-time slot after nine years at Cisco.
Cisco's routing devices funnel most of the data that travels around the global
Internet. In her new role there, Ms. Estrin will help map strategy at the
dominant company in computer networking, a roughly $40 billion field that
is perhaps the most technically challenging of any in the computer world.
At the same time, Cisco is buying for $84 million the company that Ms.
Estrin and her husband, William Carrico, founded three years ago, Precept
Software Inc. Precept's software allows video signals to be transmitted
over corporate networks. Mr. Carrico will work part-time at Cisco and be
free to pursue other projects.
The appointment significantly raises Ms. Estrin's profile and influence
outside Silicon Valley, where top-ranking female technologists at large
companies are still something of a rarity. (Another prominent women in the
technology world, Carol Bartz, chief executive of software maker Autodesk
Inc., is on Cisco's board.)
But women are even more unusual outside Silicon Valley, says Ms. Estrin,
who is a director at Federal Express Corp., Sun Microsystems Inc. and
Rockwell International Inc. "I sensed that I was a novelty, which is
something I never felt inside the Valley," Ms. Estrin said. "I found that I had
to go through the proving myself stage, which I did. But you get over it."
Ms. Estrin "has a very strong grasp of technology," said Don H. Davis Jr.,
Rockwell's chairman and chief executive. "But she also has a big view of
what's going on in the entire industry, as well as a grasp of the operational
details of the company." Sun Chief Executive Scott McNealy said Ms.
Estrin has great contacts in the business world, and "understands the needs
of end users as well as any of our board members do." John Chambers,
Cisco's chief executive, said Ms. Estrin is "another first-round draft choice."
Even competitors say they are impressed at Cisco's coup. "I have to admit
that this is a smart move for Cisco," said 3Com Corp. Chief Executive Eric
Benhamou, who once started a company with Ms. Estrin. "I can't think of
many things she can't do."
Ms. Estrin has already done a lot. She and Mr. Carrico, who have been
married since 1987, are responsible for two other Silicon Valley companies
besides Precept: Bridge Communications Inc. and Network Computing
Devices Inc. In a world where copycat start-ups are common, the
companies founded by Ms. Estrin and Mr. Carrico were ahead of the pack.
Bridge, for example, formed in 1981, was one of the first companies to
make networking hardware, now one of the hottest fields in the computer
industry.
In 1986, 3Com bought Bridge for $200 million. Mr. Estrin and Mr. Carrico
became executives of 3Com, and promptly urged the company to drop its
focus on software and emphasize hardware instead. William Krause,
3Com's chief executive at the time, ignored the advice, a mistake he later
conceded helped Cisco to take off in the early 1990s. Cisco's market
capitalization currently stands at about $64 billion.
Ms. Estrin and Mr. Carrico eventually left 3Com. Mr. Benhamou, who
worked with the pair at Bridge, stayed behind and used a version of their
hardware strategy to turn 3Com around.
Ms. Estrin was born in Israel and studied computers at the University of
California at Los Angeles, where both her parents were science professors.
She met Mr. Carrico in 1979 while both were working for Zilog Inc., a
Silicon Valley technology company. The couple has a seven-year-old son.
Friends describe them as visionary, with Ms. Estrin's pragmatic personality
making her particularly adept at sorting through companies' operational
problems. "She is great at getting things done," said Philip Greer, a San
Francisco venture capitalist who has backed all of the pair's projects.
Cisco has reached its No. 1 spot in large part by buying small companies
like Precept. In recent months, when Cisco approached Precept about an
acquisition, Mr. Chambers, the Cisco chief executive, also asked Ms. Estrin
about taking the top technology job. "It intrigued me right away, but I had
to think it through, because it was such a big change," said Ms. Estrin.
How will someone who is by temperament an entrepreneur handle life at
Cisco, with its 12,000 employees and $8 billion in annual sales? "I am used
to running my own show," Ms. Estrin said. "I am sure there are going to be
days when I will grit my teeth and think how much easier it would be if I
could just tell someone what to do . . . I can't think of another company I
would do this job for."
Ms. Estrin says she was persuaded by Cisco's dominant market position,
and the fact that, in the mature technology business, it isn't getting any easier
to launch a successful start-up. And some of Ms. Estrin's friends supect she
may be headed for even higher spots at Cisco. She says the issue so far
hasn't come up.
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