Sun Microsystems and other successful start-ups, is shifting to a part-time position at Sun as he takes a more prominent role at a new company that is developing high-speed network switches to compete with Cisco Systems and others. Arista Networks announced Wednesday that Bechtolsheim will be chairman and chief development officer for the Menlo Park start-up, which he helped launch. Arista also named former Cisco executive Jayshree Ullal as its president and chief executive. The move was seen by some as a blow to Sun, which has struggled in the recent economic downturn. But Sun said in a statement that Bechtolsheim, who has been chief architect and a senior vice president for systems, will continue to work on new products and strategies for Sun in a part-time role. Bechtolsheim left Sun once before, in 1995, when he founded another company that was later acquired by Cisco. He returned to Sun in 2004 when Sun acquired yet another start-up that he had launched.

Google from buying an online ad service. Google said in July that it would buy the ad service, ZAO Begun, from Rambler Media, which runs one of the most popular Web portals in Russia. At the time, Google said the deal was part of its moves to improve service for users, partners and advertisers in Russia, which has a fast-growing digital advertising market. In a statement Thursday, Google said it was "very disappointed" that Russia's Federal Anti-Monopoly Service decided to block the deal. Rambler also said in a notice on its Web site that the deal was rejected.

Netflix said it agreed on a partnership to deliver movies and television shows over the Internet to owners of Samsung Electronics Blu-ray DVD players. Netflix will give owners of Samsung's BD-P2500 and BD-P2550 players access to more than 12,000 titles that can be watched on televisions, the Los Gatos company said Thursday in a statement. Existing Samsung Blu-ray devices can be upgraded, at no additional cost, to enable them to play the shows, Netflix said.