![[Ejabat pic]](/gif/1229ejabat.gif)
He doesn't appear on the keynote circuit quite as often as say, Bill Gates
or John Chambers, but low-profile Mory Ejabat has quietly built a
networking powerhouse that is challenging Cisco, as well as carrier
equipment giants Nortel and Lucent.
In June, Ascend completed its $3.7 billion acquisition of Cascade Communications Corp., a marriage of two fiesty start-ups that, in an unlikely scenario, made deep inroads into the conservative stronghold of the carrier market. Ascend is a remote access leader and claims to be the No. 1 provider of ATM and frame relay equipment to service providers worldwide. Its equipment also runs big pieces of the Internet.
Cascade wasn't Ejabat's first buyout. He's also grabbed up Whitetree, Inc., for ATM technology and expertise, StonyBrook Services, Inc., which mademultivendor net management software, and NetStar, Inc., which provided technolog y for a gigabit router that Ascend is using to threaten Cisco in the Internet backbone.
Ejabat is looking to position Ascend as a strong player in the emerging xDSL marketplace, and he wants Ascend to be ready to handle voice as well as data in the networks of tomorrow. With Cisco, Nortel, Lucent and lots of other strong competitors vying for his turf, Ejabat will have plenty to do in the year ahead. Based on his showing so far, he can handle the workload.
