My time at Sun has come to an end along with a host of others in the great RIF of 2009.
Maybe I'll be back when Sun needs more people.
Blah, etc. Blah
Tuesday Mar 31, 2009
Sunday Jun 11, 2006
Think of a nice Sun server and all of it's massive horsepower as available to every user (almost) 
The Solaris operating system is simply fantastic at sharing resources, so it can seem at times that everyone has a server with a lot of muscle under their desk. In my experience, it's not probable that everyone else on the system will be doing something at the same time as myself. So, I really do feel like I have the server all to myself.
Now imagine that server having a multitude of video cards installed in it, and the video cables can stretch for hundeds or even thousands of miles with a display at the end.
That's a silly illustration, but that's the fundamental concept of the SunRay Server software, except there are not a bunch of video cards, in fact, the server may not have one. All of those displays are virtual, and they're accessible through the network, using SunRay clients.
Now think of each SunRay client as a place to send one of those virtual displays. The questions becomes; "Which display will get sent to which SunRay client?"
Enter the SmartCard... Each user has one SmartCard assigned, and whichever SunRay client receives the user's card, that is where their virtual display will be sent. Oh yeah! This "sending of the display" is optimized in many ways, like compression and sending only the changed bits of the virtual display to the SunRay client display. Also note that this virtual display is encrypted before it is sent to the SunRay client.
I happen to think this is the perfect manifestation of "The network is the computer" because I can go anywhere within Sun (and I have), insert my card and my display (or session) is sent to me over the network. My session has been sent to El Segundo California, Broomfield Colorado and Boston Massachusetts. That's coast-to-coast, friends!
Marco, I realize that my description of how this technology works may not meet the "detailed information" requirement of your post, but here are some resources that may prove to be useful:
http://www.sun.com/software/sunray/index.jsp
http://www.sun.com/software/sunray/faqs.jsp
http://www.sun.com/software/sunray/features.jsp
http://www.sun.com/software/sunray/techspecs.jsp
http://www.sun.com/software/sunray/success.jsp
I hope that My attempt to illustrate the basic concepts of the SunRay client architecture is helpful.
The Solaris operating system is simply fantastic at sharing resources, so it can seem at times that everyone has a server with a lot of muscle under their desk. In my experience, it's not probable that everyone else on the system will be doing something at the same time as myself. So, I really do feel like I have the server all to myself.
Now imagine that server having a multitude of video cards installed in it, and the video cables can stretch for hundeds or even thousands of miles with a display at the end.
That's a silly illustration, but that's the fundamental concept of the SunRay Server software, except there are not a bunch of video cards, in fact, the server may not have one. All of those displays are virtual, and they're accessible through the network, using SunRay clients.
Now think of each SunRay client as a place to send one of those virtual displays. The questions becomes; "Which display will get sent to which SunRay client?"
Enter the SmartCard... Each user has one SmartCard assigned, and whichever SunRay client receives the user's card, that is where their virtual display will be sent. Oh yeah! This "sending of the display" is optimized in many ways, like compression and sending only the changed bits of the virtual display to the SunRay client display. Also note that this virtual display is encrypted before it is sent to the SunRay client.
I happen to think this is the perfect manifestation of "The network is the computer" because I can go anywhere within Sun (and I have), insert my card and my display (or session) is sent to me over the network. My session has been sent to El Segundo California, Broomfield Colorado and Boston Massachusetts. That's coast-to-coast, friends!
Marco, I realize that my description of how this technology works may not meet the "detailed information" requirement of your post, but here are some resources that may prove to be useful:
http://www.sun.com/software/sunray/index.jsp
http://www.sun.com/software/sunray/faqs.jsp
http://www.sun.com/software/sunray/features.jsp
http://www.sun.com/software/sunray/techspecs.jsp
http://www.sun.com/software/sunray/success.jsp
I hope that My attempt to illustrate the basic concepts of the SunRay client architecture is helpful.
Friday Jun 09, 2006
Can somebody tell me why the whole world has not tossed out the Winsmell architecture and replaced every desktop with a tasty new SunRay client?
It's like watching people suffer from a deadly illness while we hold out the cure with an open hand as they pass by.
They seem to rather die than take the medicine. The software is available for the asking. The only way we can make this medicine easier to take would be to deliver the DVD's unsolicited to each and every person in America, very much like AOL.
I DO NOT believe everyone trying to manage a bunch of PC's is stupid. That would be too easy.
I DO believe we are not shouting loud enough for people to hear us and they simply do not know that we have the cure. Even if I'm wrong, and managers are making well-informed decisions to avoid using SunRay clients in their enterprise, it must mean that we're doing something wrong.
So what is the hold up? Why don't we see millions of PC's getting replaced with SunRay clients?
It's like watching people suffer from a deadly illness while we hold out the cure with an open hand as they pass by.
They seem to rather die than take the medicine. The software is available for the asking. The only way we can make this medicine easier to take would be to deliver the DVD's unsolicited to each and every person in America, very much like AOL.
I DO NOT believe everyone trying to manage a bunch of PC's is stupid. That would be too easy.
I DO believe we are not shouting loud enough for people to hear us and they simply do not know that we have the cure. Even if I'm wrong, and managers are making well-informed decisions to avoid using SunRay clients in their enterprise, it must mean that we're doing something wrong.
So what is the hold up? Why don't we see millions of PC's getting replaced with SunRay clients?
