Zero management required for Sun Microsystems Sun Ray Desktop Solution

Desktop upgrade fatigue becomes a thing of the past with the Sun Ray desktop appliance.

Sun Microsystems has announced the latest version of its Sun Ray Server Software 3.1 designed to "eliminate desktop upgrade fatigue" whilst protecting critical business information.

Targeting large PC populations - 95% of which are Microsoft users - Sun Ray technology centralises desktop computing on Sun Ray servers refered to as "controllers". A desktop application upgrade, memory/performance upgrade or OS upgrade is done centrally on a few servers. Sun Ray clients have no local Operating System and connect to the Sun Ray controllers for their functionality, unlike other thin client solutions which still have an embeded Operating System that needs to be managed, installed, upgraded and configured.

According to Sean O'Hare, technology architect at Sun Microsystems in SA, the new version of Sun Ray technology - launched at the company's recent quarterly network computing announcements in New York City - continues to eliminate the risk of desktop virus infections. It can also help protect corporate intellectual property by controlling how users get information on and off the corporate network.

"Other thin clients such as X Terminals and Windows Based Terminals contain a local operating system and client SW. These clients require some maintenance and must be managed as individual hosts. The Sun Ray appliance requires zero management."

While the Sun Ray Server Software has been available for about six years, the new version offers additional features and functionalities that includes support for new USB devices like flash and zip drives.

O'Hare compares Sun Ray technology to a telephone: think of the Sun Ray clients as telephones, and the Sun Ray "Controller" as a PBX. Plug the clients into a configured network and they deliver a personalised compute desktop to the user with out having to install or configure anything on the desktop. Some customers allow office furniture movers to connect the Sun Ray clients when moving offices as nothing needs to be done on the desktop other than plugging it in.

"Since the Sun Ray technology centralises everything, users can use a smartcard to 'hot desk,' moving their computing desktop session with them as they move from client to client in the same way you would use the follow me function on a phone. They simply plug their smartcard in and their session appears on that client exactly where they left off."

Sun Ray Controllers may be placed in "groups" so that users are able to hot desk between controllers so that if a controller fails, then the thin client can immediately and automatically attach to the next, least loaded, controller.

New features include:

* A choice of Solaris 10 with Java Desktop System on either SPARC or x86 based servers for the controllers.
* Regional Hot Desking extends the ability of users to access a virtual desktop session across failover groups. Users can now access the same session as they roam from office to office (across town or across the country).
* Audio optimisations for third party VoIP softphone applications in a LAN (100Mbps) environment.
* Security enhancements to Web-based Administration Tool enabling tracking of which users made modifications to the Sun Ray server configuration.
* Expanded peripheral capabilities and control.

The Sun Ray 170 serial ports are activated. Additionally, centralised administration control over the USB ports, internal smart card reader and serial ports can be globally enabled or disabled. "For organisations looking for a desktop client solution to optimise productivity, Sun Ray desktop appliances and controllers deliver substantial return on investment. They coexists with existing back-end infrastructures, are non-intrusive and offers multi-platform support (Unix, Linux, Windows), and helps secure the desktop from data theft and viruses," says O'Hare.