Jim Barksdale joins Sun's board
The former Netscape Communications chief executive has taken a seat on the networking company's board, Sun says.
Barksdale, 56, led Netscape until its acquisition by America Online. That acquisition included a technology and revenue sharing agreement with Sun involving Netscape's enterprise software division.
Following his departure from Netscape, Barksdale quashed speculation that he would take the helm of another company. Upon leaving Netscape, he joined AOL's board.
Barksdale also serves on the boards of 3Com, HomeGrocer, Mondavi, and Respond.com and is cochair of Silicon Valley advocacy group TechNet.
In addition, Barksdale is founder and managing partner of the Barksdale Group, an angel financing firm that works with Internet start-ups and existing firms that want to make an Internet play. He also is a cochair of Texas Gov. George W. Bush's Information Technology Advisory Council, announced today, which advises Bush on his presidential campaign.
Other Sun board members include chief executive Scott McNealy; Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers general partner John Doerr; and Cisco Systems chief technology officer Judith Estrin.