Business Highlights

SAN JOSE — Sun Microsystems Inc. said former Chief Financial Officer Michael Lehman will return Wednesday to his old position, replacing current CFO Steve McGowan, who announced his plans to step down last October.

Lehman, 55, was first named Sun’s CFO in 1998 and resigned in 2002. Since then, he has been serving in various capacities on the computer and software maker’s board and working as a self-employed business consultant.

"Having now tried retirement briefly, I find that I like being involved in leading change and driving the business more directly,” Lehman said.

McGowan, 57, has been Sun’s chief financial officer and executive vice president of corporate resources since July 2002. He will remain the company’s executive vice president of finance and, like Lehman, will report to CEO Scott McNealy.

Also Tuesday, Sun said Santa Clara University executive professor Robert Finocchio Jr. has been elected to its board.

Gartner: Worldwide server shipments increased in 2005

SAN JOSE — Worldwide server shipments jumped 12.7 percent in 2005 while revenues increased 4.5 percent to $51.68 billion as companies turned to lower-end — and less expensive — systems for their computing needs, the research firm Gartner Inc. reported.

The numbers, released Tuesday, show the continuation of a trend toward servers based on commodity, or "x86,” microprocessors from Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. They often run the freely distributed Linux operating system.

"The most dynamic market remains the x86 server segment,” said Jeffrey Hewitt, a research director at Gartner. "These servers continue to be the choice in increasing numbers to meet the needs of more Web users accessing more file types from more access points than ever.”

High-end servers based on non-x86 chips that run the Unix operating system saw shipments fall 5.3 percent with just a 0.5 percent increase in revenue, Hewitt said.

Starbucks to locate some employees in Los Angeles area

SEATTLE — Starbucks Corp. plans to move some employees to an office in the Los Angeles area, in yet another sign of the company’s growing interest in selling entertainment along with its lattes and Frappuccinos.

Audrey Lincoff, a spokeswoman for the Seattle-based coffee retailer, said the move would be designed to put some people who work in Starbucks’ entertainment division in closer contact with music labels and movie studios.

Starbucks has had success selling CDs at its thousands of retail locations, and recently inked a deal with Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. to help market the upcoming film "Akeelah and the Bee.”

Still, Lincoff cautioned that no lease has been signed and there is no timeline for such a move at this point.

"It’s something that we’re exploring as an opportunity,” she said.

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