Arista-20 Years of Growth and Innovation

Today marks the 20th anniversary of Arista!

Over that time, our company has grown from nothing to #1 in Data Center Ethernet, a highly profitable $100+ billion S&P 500 company doing $6+ billion in annual revenue.

Wait, what? How is that even possible?

Sometimes, people ask me, "Hey Ken, back when you co-founded Arista, did you expect you guys would succeed like this?" The answer is, not in my wildest dreams. I have to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming now.

What's even more satisfying is how we did it. We have always believed that doing the right thing is the way to go. Treat people right, do what you know in your heart is the ethical thing to do, create software you'll be proud of, do right by your employees, your customers, your suppliers, your partners, and even your competitors. Be the person you would want to work with. Make the products you would want to buy. Provide the support that you would want to receive. Because the shortest path from where you are today to success — however you define it — is doing the right thing every step along the way. Can we prove this is always true? Of course not. Ultimately, it's faith. And, with Arista, we had a once-in-a-lifetime chance to put our faith to the test. From our inception to the present day, we've pushed hard to instill a culture of doing the right thing, to encourage every person to do what they believe is right, and to live that way ourselves.

Team Arista at the New York Stock Exchange in June 2024 celebrating 10 years of being a public company.

So we can't build all the features by the deadline (without brutal hacks)? Then the deadline has to change. So we can't promise to meet the customer's requirements in time? Then we're not going to pretend or mislead, we'll have to let the deal go. If we have to choose between building features for new business versus helping with customer problems, we should walk away from the new business. Making it right comes before all new development. How many companies give their support teams direct contact information for all their engineering leads and teams, with instructions to stop working on new features in order to help in the field? How many companies make each developer responsible not just for their code, but for creating all tests needed to prove the code works? How many managers tell their staff that we need to get the code right, so if extra time is needed to refactor, to reengineer, to add tests, then please speak up so we can figure out what we need to delay to make room? How many heads of engineering give their cell phone number to every customer they meet with instructions to call if we ever fall short on their quality expectations?

To have enjoyed this kind of success while staying true to our principles proves that doing the right thing works. Not only is it possible to do well while doing good; it's just better. Your conscience can guide you to an answer that is both right for your business and right ethically. Twenty years in, we are as confident as ever that doing the right thing is not only possible, but it can be the foundation of success. And knowing that we did it right makes the success that much sweeter.