Network World list the 50 most powerful people in networking.
POWER ELITE
John Chambers // president and CEO, Cisco
Chambers spent 2005 on the prowl for Cisco's next growth market and found video - the last quadrant in networking's so-called quadruple play of data, wireless, voice and video. Video on the corporate net is an obvious move for a router and VoIP gear maker. IP video to consumers is less obvious, but Chambers has been talking that up too. He'd like Cisco gear to be as prevalent in the next-generation digital home as it is in the enterprise wiring closet. He's also pushing Cisco into young technologies such as self-healing security and IP push-to-talk. His typical confident self, Chambers reportedly told analysts in December that Cisco will continue to grow at 10% to 15% a year (see related story).
Larry Ellison // CEO, Oracle
PeopleSoft, check. Retek, check. Siebel Systems, check. With his unwavering ability to set a long-term strategy for growth and his dogged determination to win a business battle, you get a CEO who resembles the Energizer Bunny - he keeps going and going (and growing and growing). And beyond the outright acquisitions comes the opportunity to win customers for Oracle's own products. For instance, both Retek and Siebel have been known for their strong integration with IBM's DB2. With Oracle now in charge, Ellison has two new crops of customers he can harvest. Even so, Ellison's most pressing enemy target is not IBM but SAP, Oracle's largest competitor in the enterprise application market.
Bill Gates // Chairman and chief software architect, Microsoft
Gates doesn't have to do much to capture the limelight - a testament to his industry might. Most recently, all lights shone on Gates sharing his vision of how Internet software services will revolutionize the world. With Gates hailing the software-as-a-service concept, we can expect stepped-up development activity well beyond Redmond. Software and services competitors as well as entrepreneurs will look to angle in on this Bill-blessed market.