Mercury News Interview: Kevin Johnson, CEO, Juniper Networks

Nov 06, 2009 (San Jose Mercury News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- JNPR | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- When Kevin Johnson was hired as CEO of Juniper Networks last year, analysts said the veteran Microsoft executive could help the Sunnyvale networking equipment company find new growth and ramp up competition with the much-larger market leader, Cisco Systems. But the recession hit Silicon Valley soon after his arrival, causing Juniper's revenue and profit to plunge in the first part of 2009.

Now the company says sales are on the uptick again. Last week, Johnson and other Juniper executives flew east for what the company billed as a major event, inaugurating their listing on the New York Stock Exchange and announcing new hardware and software for an audience of tech analysts and reporters.

Johnson, who ran sales and marketing at Microsoft before he was promoted to oversee Windows software and online services, described the Juniper announcements as a "stake in the ground for our vision for the next decade." Tech experts said the rhetoric might be a bit inflated, but the new products represent solid advances that could help Juniper grow beyond its core market of networking equipment for telecommunications service providers and expand its toehold in corporate data centers.

The Mercury News spoke with Johnson this week. The following has been edited for space and clarity.

Q When you took the CEO job, some analysts said Juniper was focused on engineering but needed to step up its marketing and sales efforts. Do you

agree, and are you doing that?

A It's fair to say that Juniper Networks, in the area of high-performance networking, has some of the most phenomenal technology on the planet. It's also fair to say that in many cases customers weren't aware of that, so the opportunity is not only to continue investing in innovation but to raise awareness and tell our story. And we see a tremendous opportunity, not just with a set of new products and technology that we're taking to market, but with a fundamental new approach to networking.

Q I can understand the importance of faster chips and networking hardware, which you introduced last week. You're also expanding your software platform for outside developers so they can write a variety of programs that will be compatible with Juniper's hardware and your Junos operating system. Why do that?

A If you look over the last decade, the networking industry has been (segmented among) different special-purpose uses, different operating systems. That pushes the complexity to the customer and increases their costs. So the approach we're taking is different. We'll innovate in new silicon and systems, but we're also opening Junos for third parties to innovate on top of it. We can help simplify things for customers across that platform.

We're embracing the concept that good ideas come from anywhere, and that's a formula that will continue to fuel growth in all the areas that we serve.

Q Juniper's core business has been selling to broadband service providers. Will that always be the case, or do you expect your sales to business data centers will eventually become an equal source of revenue?

A One-third of our revenue today comes from enterprise (business) customers, two-thirds from (Internet) service providers. With the expansion of data centers and cloud-based computing, there's a tremendous opportunity, so the vision we're outlining really embraces the needs of both service providers and data center customers.

Q Cisco and some other big vendors are increasingly trying to sell the whole range of data center equipment (including networking, servers and storage). Juniper seems focused on being a "best of breed" provider of networking equipment, while partnering with companies like IBM and Dell that sell other data center components. What are the merits of the two approaches?

A We're a pure play that recognizes partnerships. Our fundamental approach is that of bringing value to the network in a way that can inter-operate with great products from our partners. Some companies are taking a vertically oriented approach. We're taking a horizontal approach that gives our customers more choice and more flexibility.

The fact that we've got unique intellectual property means those companies that are looking at providing end-to-end solutions have really embraced the concept of partnering with Juniper. That's why you've seen us announcing (sales partnerships) with IBM and Dell.

Q Since you were head of the division at Microsoft that produced the Windows operating system, I wondered what you thought about the release of Windows 7. How did it feel to watch that from the outside?

A I've been pretty busy with Juniper, so I'm probably not the one to comment on that.

Contact Brandon Bailey at 408-920-5022.

Kevin johnson

Age: 49.

Job: CEO, Juniper Networks

Family: Married; two adult sons.

Birthplace: Gig Harbor, Wash.

Residence: San Jose.

Education: Bachelor"s degree in business administration from New Mexico State University.

Career: Worked as a software developer before joining IBM, where he worked in systems integration and consulting, sales and marketing; held several managerial jobs over 16 years at Microsoft, including group vice president for sales and marketing and later president of the platforms and services division; became CEO of Juniper in September 2008.

Five things to know about kevin johnson

1. His father was a physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

2. He used to run marathons; these days he works out in a gym most mornings from 5:30 to 6:30 a.m.

3. At Microsoft, he took over the division responsible for Windows as it was finishing work on the controversial Vista operating system; he later helped lead Microsoft"s unsuccessful bid to buy Yahoo in 2008.

4. He"s on the Starbucks board of directors and has been active with nonprofit groups including Catalyst, which works to help women advance in the marketplace, and nPower, which advises other nonprofits on using technology.

5. He enjoys playing golf with his younger son and has worked as an unpaid roadie for his older son"s rock band.

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