Sun attempts another thin client foray

Sun Microsystems has made another bid to enter the thin client market with the launch of its Sun Ray device - an enterprise appliance designed to run applications, not from a hard drive, but straight from an Internet server.

Craig Churchill, desktop product marketing manager at Sun Microsystems, explained: "It has no operating system whatsoever running directly on it, no requirement for memory and it runs a very small SPARC CPU. In many respects it is an extreme thin client but it goes beyond thin client, hence its name of enterprise application."

The Sun Ray does not run systems code or applications locally, instead they are accessed through the Sun Ray enterprise server software which comes bundled with the device. Based on Star Division's office suite, the enterprise server software offers tools such as word processing and spreadsheet programs.

Users can lease the use of the device for £15 a month, but adding the use of the applications will raise this to between £30-£35.

But Churchill admitted Sun Ray was not "the great white hope in terms of replacing the desktop." Instead, the company will concentrate on selling the Solaris server, he added.

Clive Longbottom, analyst at Strategic Partners, claimed Sun Ray could be a success.
"I'm not a thin client convert within the normal rule but for those working in a single task environment it has legs."