Forbes ASAP's April 3 issue calls the select 20 the Ramp Champs, stressingthat separating the well managed from the poorly managed companies was noteasy when both types were ramping at incredible rates. But in thisfirst-ever survey, "we looked beyond those huge sales increases and pickedthe 20 firms most likely to continue their success in the near future", themagazine said.

Redback Networks of Sunnyvale, California, ranked seventh, with 1999 fiscalyear revenues at $64.3 million; 1999 revenue growth of 598 per cent; 1999stock market performance rise of 322 per cent; and year 2000 estimatedrevenue growth of 141 per cent. Calling Redback's products the latestweapons in the bloody battle for broadband, Forbes ASAP says thethree-year-old networking firm's managers, mostly plundered from the likesof Cisco Systems, Bay Networks and Sun Microsystems, invented subscribermanagement system (SMS) technology, a system that allows carriers, cableoperators, and network service providers to deploy high-speed Internetaccess.

The company's customers include four of the five Baby Bells, as well asUUNet, EarthLink and others. Last year, the firm paid $4.3 billion for SiaraSystems, an optical access switching company, which was headed by Ragavan,who is now president and CEO of Redback. This acquisition gives Redbackaccess to a $10 billion market. Look out, Cisco and Nortel, Forbes ASAPwarns.

Ragavan has more than 20 years of executive management experience in thetelecommunications industry and prior to Siara, he was president of theResidential Broadband Group of ADC Telecommunications, Inc. He possessesboth a BSEE and an MSEE from Cornell University.

Juniper Networks, based in Mountain View, California, is ranked 20th in theForbes ASAP list with its 1999 fiscal year revenues at $102.6 million; its1999 revenue growth at 2,595 per cent; and its 1999 stock market performancerising 243.9 per cent. The company's estimated revenue growth for year 2000is 12 per cent. Juniper shares rose from $34 to $99 at the company's initialpublic offering last June, Forbes noted, and unlike most hot new issues,Juniper's stock kept going. The shares have not gone below $100 since earlyDecember and stood at $119.25 after a three-for-one split this week.

Juniper makes the first routers fast enough to eliminate data bottlenecks onthe Net and, Forbes says, "it must be good stuff, because the company had nocustomer one and a half years ago, but has captured 13 per cent of thehigh-end router market since then, competing with the likes of Cisco". Itsnew breed of routers, the M20 and the anticipated ultrafast, high-bandwidthOC192, are expected to keep the company growing.

Forbes predicts the growth will continue as the market for routers isexpected to grow from $1.2 billion last year to $16 billion in 2004.Meanwhile, analysts gush about Juniper's management, which includes CEOScott Kriens, the former head of Cisco-owned StrataCom, and CTO PradeepSindhu, once principal scientist at geek-mecca Xerox PARC, Forbes stresses.Sindhu, founder and CTO, left the computer science lab at Xerox PARC tofound Juniper Networks. At Juniper Networks, he played a central role in thearchitecture, design and development of the M40 and ran the company for thefirst seven months. He is currently responsible for the company's technicalroad map and also plays an active role in day-to-day design and developmentof future products. He holds a doctorate degree in computer science fromCarnegie-Mellon University. Not unpredictably, a couple of the othercompanies also feature some Indian Americans in high positions.

-- IANS