Juniper, one of Vinod Khosla’s investments, finished 900 percent higher. Redback, a company that would later acquire Cerent’s sister company, Siara Systems, finished 1999 more than 1,400 percent higher. Joining the triple-digit club was long-haul provider Sycamore, fueled by orders from Williams Communications Group, with a valuation increase for Sycamore upwards of 700 percent.
Carl Russo and the Cerent board opted to be bought buy Cisco in August 1999 instead of taking the IPO route. This meant that Cerent would avoid the wild roller-coaster ride of its stock going up and down and instead follow the more serene ride on the Cisco valuation train.
Of all of these companies mentioned, only Cisco and Juniper continue to participate in the telecommunications market of 2016.