Oracle Upgrades Its Sun Ray Thin Clients

It's been about five months since Oracle took over Sun Microsystems, but it still is strange to report that the world's third-largest software company is producing IT hardware products.

Yet another indicator that the long-awaited trend toward the widespread adoption of desktop virtualization may finally be happening, Oracle on June 2 introduced the Sun Ray 3 Plus Client, which runs on Oracle's Virtual Desktop Infrastructure software.

The new machine is the newest addition to Oracle's growing desktop virtualization portfolio, which also includes Oracle Secure Global Desktop and Oracle VM VirtualBox.

The Sun Ray 3 Plus features support for Windows 7 virtual desktops, support for larger displays (native support for up to two 30-inch displays with 2,560-by-1,600 resolution) and an Energy Star 5.0 rating for pulling less power from the wall than previous versions, Oracle said.

Sun Ray 3 also features an improved security apparatus, including native support for fiber optic networking via a Small Form Pluggable (SFP) connection module, which provides a more secure environment than conventional copper Ethernet, Oracle said.

All Sun Ray thin clients can display server-hosted, centrally managed Windows, Linux or Oracle Solaris desktops.

On the software side, Oracle's Virtual Desktop Infrastructure 3.1.1 serves as the central administrator for virtualized Windows, Linux and Oracle Solaris environments hosted in the data center.

Enhancements in v3.1.1, according to Oracle, include wider platform support (allowing use of Windows 7 as a virtual desktop operating system); increased networking flexibility (VLAN support for Microsoft Hyper-V); and less latency, thanks to the new Oracle VM VirtualBox 3.2 host.

In the thin-client business overall, established companies such as Citrix, Wyse, VMware and nComputing are reporting sharply improving sales, and startups such as Kaviza are also experiencing a lot of interest from potential customers.