It's a homecoming for Bikash Koley, who joined Juniper in 2017 from Google. Ex-Googler Raj Yavatkar will join Juniper as CTO, taking Koley's job.

Mitch Wagner, Executive Editor, Light Reading

December 4, 2019

3 Min Read
Google Names Juniper CTO Koley as Networking Boss

Juniper's outgoing CTO Bikash Koley is returning to familiar ground when he leaves the networking vendor next month. He returns to Google, where he previously worked, and will take a position as VP and head of global networking, Light Reading has learned.

And ex-Googler Raj Yavatkar will fill Koley's position as Juniper CTO, Juniper said this week.

Koley took the CTO spot at Juniper in mid–2017, after nearly ten years at Google, where he worked in network engineering, rising from a staff position to distinguished engineer and head of network architecture and planning. Juniper announced Koley's departure last week, just prior to Thanksgiving, and said he will stay on until January 3, 2020.

Koley announced his return to Google on LinkedIn Monday "Leaving all of this goodness [at Juniper] behind was not an easy call but building out hyperscale infrastructure has been my true calling. So I am going back to my roots," he said.

Learn more about how the cloud is transforming the service provider sector at Light Reading's cloud content channel.

A Google spokesperson confirmed Koley's position, but declined to comment further.

As for Juniper's incoming CTO: Yavatkar will report to CEO Rami Rahim and start work at Juniper this month. Yavatkar is currently an IEEE Fellow and previously headed development of network virtualization infrastructure products for cloud networking at Google, delivering network software solutions for Google Cloud customers. He has more than 45 patents and 60 publications, and before working at Google, held leadership roles at VMware and Intel, Juniper says.

Networking is strategic to cloud providers. That's always been the case -- data centers have to talk to each other and to end users somehow. But it's become more important as enterprises move their mission-critical applications to the cloud, and delays of seconds can cost enterprises big money. And networking becomes even more critical as cloud functions move to the edge, driven by 5G, the Internet of Things, and other emerging applications requiring low latency, fast response times and high bandwidth.

Amazon launched several networking options at its re:Invent customer and partner conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday. It partnered with Verizon, Vodafone, SK Telecom and KDDI to develop commercial edge computing services running on 5G networks, using the AWS Wavelength 5G edge computing platform, also introduced by AWS this week. Verizon already has tests under way in Chicago with video game publisher Bethesda Softworks and the National Football League (NFL).

History lesson
Google has a long history in networking. Years ago, Google pioneered software-defined networking -- known today as "networking" -- for its global infrastructure, with work going back more than 15 years.

Google Fiber has been connecting homes for more than a decade.

The cloud provider launched new VPN and interconnect capabilities to connect enterprises to Google Cloud this year.

Google invests in subsea cables to connect regions, touting a bandwidth breakthrough for its private, 6,400km Dunant cable, connecting the US and France.

Google also partners with service providers, signing a big data analytics deal with Vodafone, and partnering with Telecom Italia in a deal that targets €1 billion ($1.1 billion) in cloud sales.

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About the Author(s)

Mitch Wagner

Executive Editor, Light Reading

San Diego-based Mitch Wagner is many things. As well as being "our guy" on the West Coast (of the US, not Scotland, or anywhere else with indifferent meteorological conditions), he's a husband (to his wife), dissatisfied Democrat, American (so he could be President some day), nonobservant Jew, and science fiction fan. Not necessarily in that order.

He's also one half of a special duo, along with Minnie, who is the co-habitor of the West Coast Bureau and Light Reading's primary chewer of sticks, though she is not the only one on the team who regularly munches on bark.

Wagner, whose previous positions include Editor-in-Chief at Internet Evolution and Executive Editor at InformationWeek, will be responsible for tracking and reporting on developments in Silicon Valley and other US West Coast hotspots of communications technology innovation.

Beats: Software-defined networking (SDN), network functions virtualization (NFV), IP networking, and colored foods (such as 'green rice').

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