Sun loses co-founder and chief scientist Andy Bechtolsheim to startup Arista Networks

27 October 2008

Sun Microsystems has an unusual problem on its hands. Brilliant billionaire Andreas von Bechtolsheim, Sun's co-founder and achief scientist and highly regarded systems designer has announced plans to leave the Silicon Valley networking giant to join a startup he founded, Arista Networks, as its chief development officer.

The announcement has led to a flurry of reports that Bechtolsheim had resigned from Sun, something the systems and software company strongly denied. It blasted an e-mail to reporters Thursday morning, calling the reports inaccurate and saying that Bechtolsheim will "continue his present involvement" with Sun, albeit on a part-time basis.

However, Arista didn't take this lying down. Mark Foss, Arista's director of marketing, said in response to Sun's e-mail that "as far as we're concerned" Bechtolsheim is working full time for Arista. "There's a miscommunication between Sun and us," he said. "We're working with Sun at the moment to clarify the situation."

Bechtolsheim has now clarified. In an interview on Thursday he confirmed that he works full time at Arista, where he is also chairman and cofounder, but that he'll continue to advise Sun on a part-time basis. "That's the legal status," he said, adding that he'll work for Sun "no more than one day a week."

Bechtolsheim features on the Forbes list of the 691 richest people in the world, ranking 620th with  a net worth of $1 billion. He had been Sun's first employee, ahead even of co-founders Scott McNealy, Vinod Khosla, and Bill Joy.

Bechtolsheim co-founded and co-funds Arista with Stanford professor David Cheriton, a longtime associate, who will serve as its chief scientist.