President and COO of Sun Federal Bill Vass' Weblog

Friday Jun 13, 2008

Just Got My Wireless Sun Ray

I just received my new Tadpole M1400 Ultra-Thin Client Wireless Sun Ray from General Dynamics C4 Systems. It's very cool and you can use it anywhere...from Starbucks to hotels...and even on JetBlue Flights. It features built in 802.11a/b/g wireless technology and allows users to login at any time for access to their session any place there is Wi-Fi, or 3G cell based wireless networking for access from remote locations where there isn't any Wi-Fi. If your cell phone works, or you can get Wi-Fi, or have a broad band Ethernet connection... you can have your desktop.

Like all Sun Rays, all communication is completely encrypted/secured with an IPsec tunnel over the network (each device has its own SIM chip), with an additional 128 bit SSL tunnel within the IPsec tunnel based on a second user SIM chip on the JavaBadge (two factor) that goes all the way to the virtual desktop in the server's memory. That's two multi-factor tokens, and two sets of encrypted tunnels, along with firmware validation and dynamic packet compression with masked headers. All this works together to provide one of the most secure connections you can find short of classified rated encryption....which of course is also an option.

Can't wait to see what Bob Gourley thinks...He just received his too. We also just started testing it with some of our government partners and customers, so check back for updates and reactions.

Posted at 05:38PM Jun 13, 2008 by BVass in General | Comments[1] | Permalink

Tuesday Mar 25, 2008

Desktop Virtualization & Thin Client Deployments Growing in Popularity

This InformationWeek story "Cincinnati Bell Adopts Virtual Desktops And Thin Clients - The company finds that desktop virtualization is a better alternative to upgrading hundreds of PCs running Windows 2000," is yet another great example of how a growing number of organizations are improving security and saving money through desktop virtualization and thin client deployments - it's not just Bob Gourley and I using thin clients at home and at work. Any organization that has employees working on connected desktops at work and/or at home can take advantage of the security improvements, energy reduction and operational cost savings of a thin client environment. I can't see why anyone would still be deploying old fashioned desktops any more, unless they just like to spend a lot of money, put all their corporate data at risk AND use up a ton of electricity.

Posted at 05:38PM Mar 25, 2008 by BVass in General | Permalink

Thursday Mar 13, 2008

Bob Gourley is Enjoying his Sun Ray 270 at Home

Bob Gourley, former Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) hooked up his new Sun Ray 270 at home and did a great blog on his experience.

Posted at 07:47PM Mar 13, 2008 by BVass in General | Comments[3] | Permalink

Wednesday Jan 30, 2008

Sun Federal BoD Adds Two More

When I came over to Sun Federal about a year and a half ago, one of my top goals was to build a world-class board of directors that would be an active participant in the business. I wanted to leverage our board of directors to be advocates for our government customers and allow Sun Federal to ensure we are thinking ahead, anticipating customer challenges and offering solutions before our
customers even realize they need them.

I believe that I have met my board of directors goal and regularly tap my board of advisors. Today, I am extremely proud to announce the appointment of two additional industry experts on our board: Dr. Francis J. Harvey and William P. Crowell. Dr. Harvey served as the Secretary of the Army before retiring in March 2007 and also served on several corporate boards, including three portfolio companies of the Carlyle Group, and enjoyed a 28-year career at Westinghouse Electric Corporation. Crowell is a former CEO and president of Ca.-based Cylink Corporation and retired as Deputy Director of the National Security Agency after holding senior positions in operations, strategic planning, research, development and finance.

Sun Federal has experienced phenomenal growth over the past year thanks to the dedication of our employees and the sage leadership of our board of directors.We expect 2008 to be no different.

On another note, it's interesting to see public discussion about Sun Rays and Sun Rays at home on the Google Sun discussion group.

Posted at 03:15PM Jan 30, 2008 by BVass in General | Comments[1] | Permalink

Friday Oct 14, 2005

"Laptop" the size of a Credit Card

Sun IT is getting good feedback from colleagues on the expanded hotdesking implementation that began internally last month and will be available globally across Sun's wide area network by the end of the quarter. This enables true session mobility by applying a Sun solution that includes Sun Ray thin client and Java Card technologies. With this solution, everyone at Sun's unique desktop session can be accessed in seconds whenever they insert their JavaBadge into any one of the 30,000 or so connected Sun Ray thin clients in campuses, buildings, and homes worldwide - exactly how they left it (from their keyboard settings, to the cursor still blinking in the email being composed)!

This solution saves Sun millions of dollars in annual operating costs associated with desktop refresh, moves/adds/changes, power consumption, software licensing, security, employee productivity, and system administration.

I've been experiencing my desktop session "follow me" from my Sun Ray at home, to several Sun campuses, and even to a wireless Tadpole Comet thin client notebook, and the performance has been nice! Its my pleasure not to have to carry around a 20 pound "session" that needs it's own carrying case, to be booted up, shut down, recharged, or rid of viruses. It sure is a lot easier to pull out my JavaBadge, put it in my pocket, and plug it back in anywhere else iWork.

Posted at 02:41PM Oct 14, 2005 by BVass in General | Permalink