Sun Ray

Sun Ray
Company type	Product line
Industry	Computer hardware, Thin clients
Predecessor	JavaStation
Founded	September 1999; 27 years ago
Founder	Sun Microsystems
Defunct	2014
Fate	Discontinued by Oracle Corporation
Area served	Worldwide
Products	Stateless thin client computing devices and software
Parent	Sun Microsystems (original), Oracle Corporation (later)

The Sun Ray represents a stateless thin client computing solution, combining both hardware and software, initially launched by Sun Microsystems in September 1999 and later phased out by Oracle Corporation in 2014. Certain versions incorporated a built-in flat panel display alongside a smart card reader.

This stateless workstation marked a significant advancement from Sun’s previous diskless, Java-centric desktop models known as the JavaStation.

Predecessor

The project began at Sun Labs in 1997 under the name NetWorkTerminal (NeWT), aiming to create a compact, affordable, energy-efficient, and silent client device. It employed the Sun Microelectronics MicroSPARC IIep processor, selected over competitors such as Intel's StrongARM and National Semiconductor's Geode due to its superior integration capabilities, performance metrics, cost-effectiveness, and availability.

NeWT was equipped with 8 MiB of EDO DRAM and 4 MiB of NOR flash, utilizing an ATI Rage 128 graphics chip chosen for its low power consumption and economical design. Other integral components included a Philips video decoder/scaler, Crystal Semiconductor audio CODEC, Sun Ethernet controller, PCI USB host interface, and an I²C smart card interface. The entire system was enclosed in a compact standard PC case featuring an auto-ranging power supply.

Engineered to deliver functionality comparable to contemporary business PCs, NeWT operated on a real-time operating system named "exec," which was derived from technology initially developed for an Ethernet-based security camera application. Production was limited to fewer than 60 units; one example is preserved at the Computer History Museum.

In July 2013, Oracle declared it would halt further development of Sun Ray products. Scott McNealy, former CEO of Sun Microsystems, publicly expressed his disappointment regarding this decision. The formal discontinuation was announced in August 2013, with final orders accepted until February 2014. Post-discontinuation support and hardware servicing were maintained through 2017.

Design

Differing from a thick client, the Sun Ray operates purely as a networked display terminal where applications execute on a remote server, and the user's session state remains independent of the physical display device. This architecture enables portable sessions, allowing users to transfer their work seamlessly between different Sun Ray units by simply inserting their smart card. Depending on configuration, reauthentication may require only the smart card or additionally prompt for username and password if no card is present. When connecting for the first time without an existing session, a new user session is initiated.

Sun Ray clients connect through Ethernet to a Sun Ray Server, with Sun Ray Software (SRS) available for both Solaris and Linux. The communication protocol developed for this system is called Appliance Link Protocol (ALP). In 2008, VMware incorporated ALP support into their VMware View platform to enhance virtual desktop infrastructure capabilities.

SRS supports two operational modes: generic session and kiosk mode. The generic session mode displays the Solaris or Linux login interface running SRS, whereas kiosk mode varies according to session type and can provide dedicated desktops or single-application environments. Oracle enhanced kiosk mode by integrating both RDP and VMware View clients to enable full-screen Windows sessions without requiring a Unix desktop environment. This functionality supports any Windows OS compatible with RDP.

Between 2007 and 2008, Sun collaborated with UK-based company Thruput to upgrade the Sun Ray 2FS model by adding compatibility for ultra-high-resolution displays up to 56 inches (3840 × 2160 pixels) and experimented with an external graphics accelerator aimed at extending support for these high-resolution monitors.

Models

NetWork Terminal (NeWT) – the initial Sun Labs prototype lacking a display
Sun Ray 1 – capable of resolutions up to 1280×1024 at 85 Hz refresh rate
Sun Ray 1G – supports resolutions as high as 1920×1200 at 75 Hz
Sun Ray 100 – built into a 17" CRT monitor
Sun Ray 150 – integrated within a 15" LCD monitor
Sun Ray 170 – embedded in a 17" LCD monitor
Sun Ray 2 – energy-efficient model (4 W) available in two variants using DDR and DDR2 memory; firmware incompatibility between versions necessitates SRSS patches
Sun Ray 2FS – features dual-head display capability and 100BASE-FX connectivity
Sun Ray 270 – housed in a mountable 17" LCD unit
Sun Ray 3 – offers support for up to 1920×1200 resolution, equipped with five USB 2.0 ports, a serial port (DB9), one DVI-I video output, and Gigabit Ethernet (RJ45)
Sun Ray 3i – includes a widescreen 21.5" LCD with full HD (1920×1080), five USB ports, integrated smart card reader, and VESA mounting compatibility
Sun Ray 3 plus – supports dual-head Dual-Link DVI with up to 2560×1600 on a 30" LCD, four USB ports, smart card reader, serial port, Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45 and SFP), Energy Star 5.0 certified (14.15 W), plus headphone and microphone jacks

The final generation was the Sun Ray 3 series; orders ceased on February 28, 2014, with the last deliveries completed by August 31, 2014.

Sun’s OEM collaborators created Wi-Fi-enabled notebook variants of the Sun Ray devices:

Comet 12 & Comet 15 – notebooks manufactured by General Dynamics
Jasper 320 – notebook produced by Naturetech
Amber 808 & Opal 608 – tablets developed by Naturetech
Gobi 7 & Gobi 8 (featuring 3G connectivity) – notebooks from Aimtec
Ultra ThinPad & UltraSlim notebooks, Ultra ThinTouch tablet – made by Arima
Tadpole M1400 – notebook with integrated 3G support from Tadpole

Hardware

The original Sun Ray 1 clients incorporated a 100 MHz MicroSPARC IIep processor initially, later superseded by a custom System on Chip named Copernicus (US patent 6,993,617 B2). This SoC was based on the MicroSPARC IIep core but integrated additional components such as 4 MiB of on-chip DRAM, USB controllers, smart card interface, memory controller, and PCI interface.

Sun Ray models 2 and 3 utilize the MIPS architecture-based RMI Alchemy Au1550 processor.

Software-only client

The Sun Desktop Access Client, introduced with Sun Ray Software version 5 (SRS5), represented a purely software-based client solution. Oracle later rebranded it as the Oracle Virtual Desktop Client. This software-only client was phased out alongside the discontinuation of the Sun Ray product line in 2014.

Microsoft Windows access

In many business environments, Sun Rays functioned as thin clients connecting to Microsoft Windows desktops through the SRSS’s native RDP client uttsc. This configuration supports both Terminal Server sessions and Virtual Machines (VDI), offering versatility since the Sun Ray Server layer operates transparently with Windows desktops. Nevertheless, this transparency can complicate location-specific software requirements. To overcome this limitation, administrators can enhance the Sun Ray software using custom scripts—such as the "Follow Me Printing" feature documented in the Sun Ray Wiki—which dynamically assigns users to the closest printer within their Windows sessions across multiple sites. This capability is easily adaptable to meet enterprise-specific demands.

External links

Archived Oracle datasheet for Sun Ray products
Archived Sun Ray User Group website
The interactive performance of SLIM: a stateless, thin-client architecture – research publication by Sun (archived)
J open ray – open-source server solution for Sun Ray devices