BT’s outspoken former chief architect and managing director for architecture and technology strategy, Neil McRae, has found a new home at Juniper Networks, where he will assume the role of Chief Network Strategist.
McRae is well known in the world of networking and a recognised leader in networking, cloud and digital technologies and has worked in the networking/communication industry since 1992. He has advised various companies on networking, data centre, wireless, cloud and security technologies, and has also been a speaker on Space Technology with a focus on communications – hardly a surprise though given that he was apparently named after astronaut Neil Armstrong.
At Juniper, McRae will be expected to work with customers, including service providers, cloud providers and enterprises, in “developing the next-generation architectures leveraging Juniper’s products and experience-first solutions.”
Motorsport fan McRae led the team at BT, which was responsible for a significant transformation of BT’s technology offerings, including BT’s 5G launch and mobile strategy. His move to Juniper should be a smooth one for McRae who has basically worked with Juniper as a customer and partner for close to 20 years whilst he was at BT. McRae announced he was leaving the UK national operator at the end of 2022.
Following the announcement of his new job, McRae took to Twitter to say, “Customers are at the heart of our industry and I’m super super, super excited to join @JuniperNetworks and work with customers on building their next generation of experience-first networks and services, enabling the power of the network to make a difference in the way we live our lives!”
What Enterprise Times thinks?
There is no doubt that McRae is a heavyweight appointment for Juniper and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the company. He is outspoken and never afraid to share his views, which will undoubtedly be something Juniper will capitalise on both internally with its customers and externally with the industry. Visionary is a much-overused term in tech, but if McRae is half as good at strategizing for Juniper as he is at playing Pinball then the Sunnyvale, California based company is set to benefit greatly from its new hire.
