The announcement led to a of 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.

That sparked a brief tug-of-war between the companies. 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 it. In an interview 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."

"Sun has a very busy product schedule ahead of itself," Bechtolsheim said. "The products for the next year, if not the next two years, are all laid out. There are sometimes questions that come up that they'd like to call me back on or ask me about, and I'm happy to help them out on that basis."

"This may change in the future," he added, "but for now I'm still going to help Sun out on a part-time basis."