Scott Kriens, Juniper Networks

For Scott Kriens, the patient bottling of Chardonnay from his quarter- acre vineyard is a hobby that couldn&'t be more diametrically opposed to his day job as chairman and CEO of Juniper Networks.

There, Kriens describes fast-paced growth as one of his toughest challenges in 2005, a year in which the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based networking vendor is on track to grow revenue by more than 50 percent to about $2 billion.

“The company is in a stage of sometimes-awkward adolescence, which is where we&'re growing so fast, and there are so many opportunities … that trying to stay focused and make sure that we continue to execute is a challenge,” Kriens says.

Juniper is trying to capture one new opportunity through this year&'s acquisitions of Peribit Networks and Redline Networks, moves that established Juniper as a player to be reckoned with in the hot WAN optimization/application acceleration space, projected by IDC to grow from $314 million this year to $611 million by 2009.

“They&'ve identified niche markets … where Cisco might be vulnerable,” says Jeff Hiebert, CEO of ROI Networks, a San Juan Capistrano, Calif.-based solution provider. He described Kriens as a dynamic leader who has built a strong management team.

Kriens says he&'s determined to build a more strategic channel that can guide customers to solutions rather than just respond to RFPs. It&'s a strategy some partners say needs to be more forcefully pushed to the Juniper field sales force.

Only time will tell how well Juniper&'s channel efforts will age.