Juniper Takes A Nip Out Of Cisco

Had Scott G. Kriens stayed at StrataCom Inc. for a few more weeks in 1996, he would have ended up working for fast-rising networking star Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO ), which bought StrataCom that April. But rather than take a ride on the Cisco rocketship, Kriens left to run tiny Juniper Networks Inc. (JNPR ) Now, Kriens and Juniper are the highfliers. Over the past year, Juniper has handed its Silicon Valley neighbor a string of defeats in the market for gear used to shuttle e-mail, videos, and Internet phone calls between cities and continents. Juni- per's share rose from 30% to 36% in the second quarter, while Cisco's fell from 60% to 58%, according to Infonetics Research Inc.

The main reason for Juniper's success: focus. While Cisco sells to all manner of customers, Juniper has until now concentrated on one: the telecoms. Unencumbered by the legacy of earlier technologies and the need to be all things to all customers, it has won a reputation as an innovator. Its routers are considered more reliable in a business where downtime is unthinkable, partly because its software has been better tuned than Cisco's to telecom's needs, according to analysts.