There are lots of thin clients in the world but hopefully this will help sun's dwindling stock prices. This isn't really significant in treehugger news though.

I agree with Mike - this is interesting, but only a little bit so for the treehugger aspect. These 'thin client' computers are not actual desktops, but terminals that need to be connected to a server somewhere. There may very well be a significant power advantage if you can run several of these 4-Watt thin clients off of one 80-Watt server somewhere, instead of having 80-Watt desktops everywhere. It is also important to bear in mind that the 4 Watts of power consumption they're quoting here does not include powering the display you're using to interact with the computer. So, this is kind of cool, but it's not a self-contained desktop computer for consumers that uses just 4 Watts of power.

I dissagree with the above comments. I think that the reconition for this product is very "treehugger worthy". It details a shift in thinking that corperate America is currently having. Would Sunn have developed this if there were no market for it? I dont think so.
Big changes take small steps to complete. If Sun is able to convince some bussineses to be more eco freindly by lowering thier bottom line, mabye this will encourage that bussiness to look elsewher to save money by saving the environment.

I think this is also a boon to those companies who do no t support renwable energy, or making thier own energy, because they have too great of a power load. Mabye, now with this packaged infastructure, mabye it becomes a viable solution.

Dont be too quick to judge a small change - these small hchanges are usually what change the world.

I agree with DDP. Where thin clients can be used, they can make a pretty huge difference.

I'm thinking of universities and public libraries.. Having hundreds of thin clients instead of hundreds of "full" desktop computers (overkill) adds up to significant energy savings.

"I dissagree with the above comments. I think that the reconition for this product is very "treehugger worthy". It details a shift in thinking that corperate America is currently having. Would Sunn have developed this if there were no market for it? I dont think so.
Big changes take small steps to complete. If Sun is able to convince some bussineses to be more eco freindly by lowering thier bottom line, mabye this will encourage that bussiness to look elsewher to save money by saving the environment.

I think this is also a boon to those companies who do no t support renwable energy, or making thier own energy, because they have too great of a power load. Mabye, now with this packaged infastructure, mabye it becomes a viable solution.

Dont be too quick to judge a small change - these small hchanges are usually what change the world."

Oh no thats not exactly what I meant. What I meant by it not being treehugger worthy is that it isn't really new. Thin clients have been around for a long time.

This is a short list of Linux based thin clients
http://www.linuxdevices.com/articles/AT4923746399.html

Here's an article about how "thin is in" from july 05
http://www.linuxdevices.com/articles/AT7230383075.html

Hospitals have been using thin clients for years as have kiosks and other like systems.

There is a difference here though in that its sun doing it and they are offering a corperate package including OS, Server and client. That will definately appeal to IT departments. However I doubt this will increase the uptake rate of thin clients any. I do like that sun is doing it though and I might even buy some sun stock because this might actually affect their dismal prices.

"Thin clients have been around for a long time"

Yes, but it's my understanding that Sun was the first to market - the first Sun Ray is about a decade old now and their motto - "the network is the computer" even older

One more difference, Mike, is that these are designed to work with systems using UltraSPARC T1 low-energy CPUs[1] as well as with older-style Intel/AMD chips. Systems like the T2000[2] that use these are able to be used at higher density and with lower energy consumption and cooling costs. The result is lower environmental impact both in the central computing area and at the desktop.

[Disclaimer: I work for Sun, but not on this stuff]

[1] http://www.sun.com/processors/UltraSPARC-T1/index.xml
[2] http://www.sun.com/T2000

"Yes, but it's my understanding that Sun was the first to market - the first Sun Ray is about a decade old now and their motto - "the network is the computer" even older"

Well really thin clients have been around for longer then that in the form of mainframe, client computers. I really was thinking of solid state type systems though haha. Very good point though. I wish they would make a home server client system

hm. NCD (Network Computing Devices) put out many models of thin clients (they were called X Terminals back in the day) using about this wattage for 20 or so years. this is hardly new technology, and when I saw the picture of the Sun box, I thought that it looked a whole lot like their old "thin client" (you can find an IBM version as well).

nothing new.

Most PCs use 80W? Hardly. Most PCs use upward of 200W–300W.

I am an avid overclocker, I love triple digit power consumption because it usually equates to very high performance. Even with this background I really like Suns idea with thin clients and servers. I know my school, Georgia Tech, could benefit greatly by replacing the hundreds of computers in our library with a few servers and a bunch of clients.

Sun has been doing this for years -- I have 6 SunRay terminals with integrated CRTs molding away under one of my worktables at the office. They're slow, the server costs money (even when used with Linux), and they're best run on a private Ethernet network. It's just not an exciting technology -- and for the cost of one of these units, I can buy a PC, install Linux or Windows, and get almost the same reduction in geek-time required to administer it by doing my job intelligently.

Don't buy Sun stock because of this article, unless you can time-travel back to 1999...

It depends what kind of thin client it is. If it can operate as either an X server or VNC client, then I will be happy.

"Don't buy Sun stock because of this article, unless you can time-travel back to 1999..."

I can.. wanna buy stock in my company? its based out of indonesia and I just need your bank account num..

oh sorry I was writing an e-mail

Personally, I find that Sun is in a world of its own. Unlike Windows, Mac and Linux, these Operating systems are competiting on a global market in several areas, including business, consumers as well as industrials. Though I am very much impressed with Sun's effort to efficiently improve the technology, there are limited supports for cross-platform softwares. Even Apple have introduced Boot Camp so Intel-Mac users have the option to install Windows XP. In fact, I am hoping Sun would invest a bit more into software development as much as they did for hardware.

Are they powered by gravity?

Spud, if you're using them in upstate NY or Las Vegas, yes. It's called hydropower. Oh, and pretty much everywhere else, seeing as we wouldn't have coal without gravity.... ;)

A lot of companies have been making thin clients for years. Go on ebay and you'll find them :)

I doubt the older thin clients could have used much more then 10 watts of power or something like that so this isn't so new.

You also, like everyone has said, need a massive server to actually give the client computers their content, so you won't find this in your average household.

I should hope so Hehe!

IT ISN'T JUST SUN RAYS!

They have energy saving servers too. I think it will change the computing market...if 'treehuggers' are willing to do the research and understand the products.

http://www.sun.com/servers/index.jsp?cat=CoolThreads%20Servers&tab=3

The significant thing about the SunRay is that it works with much more efficient UNIX RISC servers such as the Sun T2000.

The problem with alternatives such as Windows TS is that they just move and concentrate the problem to the air conditioned server room. A good analogy is a bucket of ...

There are also X terminals such as Debian GNU/Linux lessdisks-xterminal which do the how to part on each of the low powered desktops and the what to part under an OS such as Linux or UNIX that shares resources efficiently. I.e. 10 users does not need 10 times the power.

The one common feature of the UNIX/Linux thin clients is that when you upgrade the server system you can reuse the clients.

These are all a lot less wasteful than PCs.

"The network is the computer." At the dawn of Web 2.0, the time has come. Thin clients will be coming for the home as well.

Most home PC usage centers on surfing and e-mail, so why use a 300 watt behemouth for this? Leave that puppy powered off until needed. An 8 watt thin client virtual destop would suffice much of the time.

All we need is a service provider with a vision and a plan.

Some observations:

Firstly, the SunRay in ACTIVE mode draws 4 watts. That is equivalent to the EnergySaver requirements for a PC in SLEEP mode.

Secondly, you need to consider the total package required to deliver computing ... yes, the SunRay requires a backend server for cpu cycles, but a virtualised and consolidated backend infrastructure is more efficient at delivering cpu cycles, than distributed PCs. Taking advantage of newer technology with reduced power consumption is easier when it can be replaced/upgraded centrally - how many people still run ineffiicent PCs that are 3-5 years old?

Another observation, not normally noted, using thin clients changes user behaviours. There are no lengthy boot times and your desktop session continues un-interrupted. To restore a desktop session takes 2 seconds, therefore users change their behaviour, and power off for short intervals, like coffee breaks. Normal PC users will leave their machines on during the day, even if they dont use them, because they cant wait for the boot time 2 - 3 minutes.

When companies are looking for 5-10% efficiency gains in their operations, I'm amazed they dont consider this architecture for bread and butter word processing, spreadsheeting, browsing. Some organisations will gain up to 50% efficiency.

It's very slow to me. Besides, it's not cheap. In U of Guelph, we have these Sun Ray 2 but again, slow , slow slow. Money wise,, i would put money on those pc with less power consumption. Anyway, try to use it fiirst before you buy though ,, you will see what i mean , especially, when you have a few people using it at the same time. the delay time is huge... i only use firefox, and open some pdf it takes way too long!!!!!..