Ousted Microsoft Vet Muglia Headed To Juniper

Muglia's title is executive vice president, Software Solutions Division, and he'll report directly to CEO Kevin Johnson, himself a decorated Microsoft alumnus. It's a newly created position for a newly formed group within Juniper, according to the company.

Muglia's departure from Microsoft, where he was a 23-year veteran, was announced in January as part of a management shakeup by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who said Muglia would be leaving in the summer.

Muglia's most recent role was president of Microsoft's Server & Tools Business, but he oversaw a number of Microsoft operations during his career there, including Microsoft's Developer, Office and Mobile Devices divisions.

Muglia comes to Juniper at a time when software is an increasingly more important part of how Juniper wants partners to sell networking, security and data center solutions to customers.

According to Juniper, Muglia's role will be to accelerate the momentum Juniper has seen behind offerings like Junos Space, its app development and deployment platform, and its MobileNext core.

"We are excited to have a leader of Bob's caliber coming on board to lead Juniper's software initiatives, and I'm confident that his vision, management savvy and technical expertise will bring tremendous value to our organization," said Juniper CEO Johnson in a statement.

Muglia is only the latest instance of an ongoing, high-profile hiring spree at Juniper. He joins Luanne Tierney, former Cisco partner marketing chief; Emilio Umeoka, former Microsoft Asia Pacific leader; and Brad Brooks, former corporate vice president of Windows Consumer Marketing and Product Management at Microsoft, among Juniper's new arrivals within the last eight months.

"I have long respected Juniper for its disruptive approach to solving the toughest networking problems and for its networking vision that is simple, open and programmable," Muglia said in a statement. "I am thrilled to be joining Kevin and his team and look forward to contributing to the company's continued success and momentum in the marketplace."

Juniper is scheduled to report fiscal Q2 earnings on Tuesday.