Today Sun Microsystems, a leading contributor to the open source community, announced plans to extend its award-winning Sun Ray ultra-thin client technology to the Linux platform. This preview of Sun Ray Server Software 3.0 (SRSS) highlights Sun's growing support for Linux and extends Sun Ray technology to the expanding Linux thin client market. Sun Ray ultra-thin clients can help organizations garner significant savings on the desktop, increase worker productivity and enhance security. Traditional thin clients require a local operating system (OS) on the client which increases costs and security risks. In contrast, Sun Ray ultra-thin clients utilize a centralized compute resource which can significantly lower hardware costs and rendering them virus proof. Sun Ray clients can also require zero administration, enabling one IT administrator to manage thousands of desktops. Sun Ray solutions also enable customers to leverage existing IT investments to deliver applications and services. "Sun Ray clients help customers realize significant cost savings by eliminating complex desktop infrastructure with Sun Ray ultra-thin client's centralized management and enhanced security," said Herb Hinstorff, director, Desktop Solutions at Sun Microsystems, Inc. "With the Sun Ray platform extending to the Linux environment, more customers can now take advantage of all the benefits of Sun Ray ultra-thin clients." Sun Ray Ultra-Thin Client The Sun Ray ultra-thin client is a simple, "plug and work" thin client, targeted at workgroup environments. The Sun Ray technology utilizes a secure, zero-maintenance and powerful desktop architecture enabling a single administrator to manage thousands of desktops. The Sun Ray client provides users access to their session running on the server, where all computation and rendering occurs. Users can switch from one Sun Ray client to another, or hot desk, using a Java Card(tm) technology-enabled smart card. Hot desking provides users with instant access to their desktop with applications that appeared on their last session. Sun Ray Server Software 3.0 Sun Ray Server Software (SRSS) 3.0 creates a secure, cost effective, zero-administration desktop environment for enterprise, government, and technical customers. New features include: cross-platform support with Linux, regional hot desking, bandwidth enhancements, expanded peripheral support, privacy mode and local area network (LAN) deployment capability. Availability The Sun Ray Server Software 3.0 beta version will be available soon at http://www.sun.com/sunray and is on display at Sun's booth # 1247 at the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo.