Mr. Pradeep Sindhu is the man behind Juniper Networks, one of the most established names in offering fundamentally unique solutions to the challenges of the global network. After setting up the company in 1996, Mr. Sindhu chose to play the role of a CTO over a CEO and designed the company's technology roadmap that steered Juniper Networks to phenomenal success.
Pradeep Sindhu stands out not only for his technical brilliance but also for his entrepreneurial vision. In June 2010, he received the Morgan Stanley Leadership Award for Global Commerce at IDG''s Computerworld Honors Program held in Washington, D.C.
"The theoretical background and breadth of knowledge that I gained have let
me do things I otherwise would not have been able to do."
Hailing from an army background, Pradeep Sindhu was expected to join Indian Administrative Services (IAS). But, he had a different dream. Much against the wishes of his father, he joined IIT Kanpur in 1970 to study electrical engineering. As was the norm those days, he applied abroad for higher studies and got accepted at the University of Hawaii. There began his affair with networking and computing. In 1976, his quest for in-depth knowledge about the field took him to Carnegie Mellon University where he pursued his masters and doctorate in computer science with a focus on high-performance multiprocessors.
In 1984, Mr. Sindhu joined Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) as a research scientist. During his 11 years of association with the research center, he played several key roles in designing and developing tools for VLSI and high-speed interconnects for shared-memory multiprocessors which led to the commercial development of Sun Microsystems' first high-performance multiprocessor system family including the SS1000 and SS2000.
However, in 1995, he realized that it was time for him to leave the company and start his own venture. He was more of an inventor who wanted to take his ideas to the market. After months of brainstorming, he finally decided to start a company to supply high-performance routers to support the quickly emerging Internet. From September to November 1995, he worked on a design. Then began the hunt for VCs as the idea needed huge investment. After being turned down by three VCs, he finally won over Vinod Khosla at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers who decided to take a chance on the company.
On 25th June 1999, Juniper Networks went public. From there on, Juniper Networks has continued to develop innovative products and technologies thus remaining at the forefront of high-performance networking. With 88 offices in 43 countries and a revenue of $4.8 billion, the company has been ranked within the top 100 of the 500 largest publicly-traded companies in the US on the 2016 Newsweek Green Rankings.
Today, Mr. Pradeep Sindhu is arguably considered the technology world's most eminent CTO. In spite of having a net worth of $800 million, he continues to relentlessly pursue his passion for technology and innovation.
