By Scott Kirsner, 5/6/2002

Prodigal Sun,

Part II

Early last month, I'd mentioned that Ed Zander, then Sun Microsystems's president and COO, had purchased a $1.8 million condo at the Ritz-Carlton Towers on Boston Common, but that a Sun spokesperson denied that he would be spending ''any more or less time in Boston,'' or that his role at the company was changing at all.

Last week, Zander resigned from Sun. And next week, a Framingham start-up called Netezza Corp. will announce that Zander has joined its board. Memo to self: Spokespeople sometimes dance around the truth.

Zander is ''one of the best marketing minds that is out there,'' says Netezza cofounder and CEO Jit Saxena. Netezza is building a server designed to handle large databases, and the company has raised $28 million so far from Battery Ventures, Matrix Partners, and Charles River Ventures.

This week, Netezza's 70 employees move to a larger office in Framingham. Next week, they hit the road for their first trade show in San Diego, where they'll officially make the Zander announcement. Pretend you didn't read it here first.

Scott Kirsner is a contributing editor at Wired and Fast Company magazines. He can be reached at kirsner@att.net.

This story ran on page C1 of the Boston Globe on 5/6/2002.
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