Sun Microsystems is having trouble with the company’s co-founder Andreas Bechtolsheim. Besides its recent problems, it appears that new-comer Arista Networks has snatched Bechtolscheim from Sun Microsystems, and gave him the position of chief development officer.

After the news was made public, hoards of reports have announced that Bechtolsheim has actually resigned from Sun, although the company has stated over and over again that the co-founder has not left the company. Sun went on a mass e-mail sending campaign to reporters, calling their allegations highly inaccurate and misleading. According to the Sun’s statements, Bechtolsheim has not left Sun, but in fact he is working for the company he co-founded on a part-time basis.

Arista also had something to say on the matter. Mark Foss, Marketing Director with Arista, claims that as far as he and his company are concerned, Bechtolsheim is working for them full-time. He also said that the confusion stemmed from faulty communication between the company he works for – Arista – and Sun Microsystems. Foss also stated that Arista and Sun were collaborating to clarify the situation.

But what does Bechtolsheim have to say about this? The coveted systems designer settled the arguments by publicly stating that he is indeed a chairman at Arista, another company that he has also co-founded. He has also confirmed that he would continue to work as an adviser for Sun, but only on a part-time basis. To be more exact, his contract mentions that he will work for Sun one a day a week.

Bechtolsheim has also said that Sun had its products laid out for the next couple of years. Moreover, Bechtolsheim said he would be happy to continue to advise Sun for the time being, but only for the aforementioned day a week. He isn’t certain about how log this deal with Sun will stay in effect.