| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : DECEMBER 20, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Sycamore's Visionary GURURAJ ''DESH'' DESHPANDE, Chairman and founder, Sycamore Networks BORN Nov. 30, 1950, in Dharwar, India EDUCATION An undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology and a PhD in engineering from Canada's Queen's University CAREER HIGHLIGHTS Co-founder, Coral Network, 1988-'90; founder and chairman, Cascade Communications, 1991-97; founder and chairman, Sycamore, 1998-present SYCAMORE STAKE 29.0%, worth $5.4 billion BIG CHANGE SINCE MAKING A FORTUNE Building a 5,000-square-foot Colonial house in Andover, a suburb of Boston ROOTS Deshpande and his family take an annual two-week trip to India ENVIABLE SKILL Able to fall asleep on airplanes even before they take off NO DR. GADGET Doesn't carry a laptop on business trips, and it wasn't until this spring that he gave up his handwritten calendar for a PalmPilot. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |
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RELATED ITEMS The Savvy behind Sycamore TABLE: Sycamore's Visionary TABLE: Sycamore's Enforcer INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online | |||
