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Sun Ray
The Sun Ray is a stateless thin client computer (and associated software) aimed at corporate environments, that was originally introduced by Sun Microsystems in September 1999 and discontinued by Oracle Corporation in 2014. It features a smart card reader and several models featuring an integrated flat panel display.
The idea of a stateless desktop was a significant shift from, and the eventual successor to, Sun's earlier line of diskless Java-only desktops, the JavaStation.
The concept began in Sun Microsystems Laboratories in 1997 as a project codenamed NetWorkTerminal (NeWT). The client was designed to be small, low cost, low power, and silent. It was based on the Sun Microelectronics MicroSPARC IIep. Other processors initially considered for it included Intel's StrongARM, Philips Semiconductors' TriMedia, and National Semiconductor's Geode. The MicroSPARC IIep was selected because of its high level of integration, good performance, low cost, and availability.
NeWT included 8 MiB of EDO DRAM and 4 MiB of NOR flash. The graphics controller used was the ATI Rage 128 because of its low power, 2D rendering performance, and low cost. It also included an ATI video encoder for TV-out (removed in the Sun Ray 1), a Philips Semiconductor SAA7114 video decoder/scaler, Crystal Semiconductor audio CODEC, Sun Microelectronics Ethernet controller, PCI USB host interface with 4 port hub, and I²C smart card interface. The motherboard and daughtercard were housed in an off-the-shelf commercial small form-factor PC case with internal +12/+5VDC auto ranging power supply.
NeWT was designed to have feature parity with a modern business PC in every way possible. Instead of a commercial operating system. the client ran a real-time operating system called "exec", which was originally developed in Sun Labs as part of an Ethernet-based security camera project codenamed NetCam. Less than 60 NeWTs were ever built and very few survived; one is in the collection of the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.
In July 2013, reports circulated that Oracle was ending the development of the Sun Ray and related products. Scott McNealy (long-time CEO of Sun) posted about this on Twitter. An official announcement was made on August 1, 2013, with the last order in February 2014. Support and hardware maintenance were available until 2017.
In contrast to a thick client, the Sun Ray is only a networked display device, with applications running on a server elsewhere, and the state of the user's session being independent of the display. This enables another feature of the Sun Ray; portable sessions where a user can go from one Sun Ray to another and continue their work without closing any programs. With a smart card, all the user had to do was insert the card and they would be presented with their session. Reauthentication requirements depend on the mode of operation. For example, without the smart card the procedure was almost identical, except the user must specify their username as well as password. In either case, if a session did not yet exist, a new one would be created the first time the user connects.
Sun Ray clients are connected via an Ethernet network to a Sun Ray Server. Sun Ray Software (SRS) is available for the Solaris and Linux operating systems. Sun developed a separate network display protocol, Appliance Link Protocol (ALP), for the Sun Ray system.
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Sun Ray AI simulator
(@Sun Ray_simulator)
Sun Ray
The Sun Ray is a stateless thin client computer (and associated software) aimed at corporate environments, that was originally introduced by Sun Microsystems in September 1999 and discontinued by Oracle Corporation in 2014. It features a smart card reader and several models featuring an integrated flat panel display.
The idea of a stateless desktop was a significant shift from, and the eventual successor to, Sun's earlier line of diskless Java-only desktops, the JavaStation.
The concept began in Sun Microsystems Laboratories in 1997 as a project codenamed NetWorkTerminal (NeWT). The client was designed to be small, low cost, low power, and silent. It was based on the Sun Microelectronics MicroSPARC IIep. Other processors initially considered for it included Intel's StrongARM, Philips Semiconductors' TriMedia, and National Semiconductor's Geode. The MicroSPARC IIep was selected because of its high level of integration, good performance, low cost, and availability.
NeWT included 8 MiB of EDO DRAM and 4 MiB of NOR flash. The graphics controller used was the ATI Rage 128 because of its low power, 2D rendering performance, and low cost. It also included an ATI video encoder for TV-out (removed in the Sun Ray 1), a Philips Semiconductor SAA7114 video decoder/scaler, Crystal Semiconductor audio CODEC, Sun Microelectronics Ethernet controller, PCI USB host interface with 4 port hub, and I²C smart card interface. The motherboard and daughtercard were housed in an off-the-shelf commercial small form-factor PC case with internal +12/+5VDC auto ranging power supply.
NeWT was designed to have feature parity with a modern business PC in every way possible. Instead of a commercial operating system. the client ran a real-time operating system called "exec", which was originally developed in Sun Labs as part of an Ethernet-based security camera project codenamed NetCam. Less than 60 NeWTs were ever built and very few survived; one is in the collection of the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.
In July 2013, reports circulated that Oracle was ending the development of the Sun Ray and related products. Scott McNealy (long-time CEO of Sun) posted about this on Twitter. An official announcement was made on August 1, 2013, with the last order in February 2014. Support and hardware maintenance were available until 2017.
In contrast to a thick client, the Sun Ray is only a networked display device, with applications running on a server elsewhere, and the state of the user's session being independent of the display. This enables another feature of the Sun Ray; portable sessions where a user can go from one Sun Ray to another and continue their work without closing any programs. With a smart card, all the user had to do was insert the card and they would be presented with their session. Reauthentication requirements depend on the mode of operation. For example, without the smart card the procedure was almost identical, except the user must specify their username as well as password. In either case, if a session did not yet exist, a new one would be created the first time the user connects.
Sun Ray clients are connected via an Ethernet network to a Sun Ray Server. Sun Ray Software (SRS) is available for the Solaris and Linux operating systems. Sun developed a separate network display protocol, Appliance Link Protocol (ALP), for the Sun Ray system.