Juniper Shakes Up Management

Jim Dolce, the vendor&'s executive vice president of worldwide field operations, is leaving the company to pursue personal interests outside Juniper, according to a company statement. He joined Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Juniper in 2002 with its acquisition of Unisphere Networks.

Also departing are executives in charge of Juniper&'s infrastructure and applications product groups.

The shakeup marks the latest of several top-level executive departures in the last several months for Juniper. The vendor revealed in August that the head of its security products group, Krishna ‘Kittu&' Kolluri, planned to leave at the end of 2005, and Christine Heckart, vice president of marketing, left in June.

Word of the management team changes took some solution providers by surprise. Bernie Mikula, CEO of Go2 Communications, a Juniper partner in Woburn, Mass., praised Dolce&'s solid track record, calling him “one of the bigger names” on Juniper&'s executive roster.

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Nevertheless, Mikula and Tony Luongo, executive vice president of sales at Go2 Communications, said the enterprise-focused experience of some of the incoming executives bodes well for channel partners, as does Juniper&'s growing enterprise focus.

“The technology they have now vs. 24 months ago is leaning more toward the enterprise every day,” Luongo said.

In the wake of the shakeup, two of Dolce&'s lieutenants are stepping into the limelight. Eddie Minshull, vice president of sales in charge of Juniper&'s EMEA operations for the past five years, succeeds Dolce. Jeff Lindholm, head of Juniper&'s worldwide sales organization, has been named chief marketing officer, filling the six-month marketing void in Juniper&'s management team following Heckart&'s departure.

Executives in charge of Juniper&'s infrastructure product group and its applications product group are also leaving the company. Carol Mills, executive vice president and general manager of infrastructure products, is leaving to pursue outside interests and will be replaced by Kim Perdikou, associate general manager, on an interim basis.

Jef Graham, executive vice president of applications products, is leaving to become CEO of a private company. Graham joined Juniper last year via its acquisition of WAN optimization vendor Peribit Networks, where he served as president and CEO. He will be replaced by Paulette Altmaier, a nine-year Cisco Systems veteran.

Each of the new appointments will report to Juniper Chairman and CEO Scott Kriens.

Shares of Juniper closed Tuesday at $22.25, up $1.20 following the announcement.