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UWC upgrades with SunRay thin client solution

Breakpoint Solutions, a Sun Microsystems iForce partner, says that it has implemented a SunRay thin client solution for a computer lab at the Computer Science Faculty of the University of the Western Cape (UWC).

Supplied by Sun Microsystems SA, the SunRay enterprise appliances are, according to Breakpoint Solutions, simple, low-cost devices that require no desktop administration and are targeted at workgroup environments. These appliances are centrally managed by, and draw their computing resources from, the SunRay software that runs on Sun's enterprise and workgroup servers, the company says.

Says Louwtjie Burger, technical specialist at Breakpoint Solutions: "UWC had a requirement for a highly available thin client solution - with good response times - for up to 50 concurrent students. The solution had to be able to deliver functionality that included anything from programming to Web browsing."

He says that Breakpoint Solutions conducted a detailed investigation into UWC's existing SunRay solution, identified some problem areas which included the network layout and an underpowered SunRay server, and proposed a redesign of the network and the replacement of the existing SunRay server with two SunFire V440s in a failover configuration.

Burger notes that Sun Microsystems' StarOffice 7 Office Suite - claimed to be the world's leading office productivity suite on Linux and the Solaris OS, and the alternative office suite on Windows - was also installed. "This gives each thin client full productivity capabilities, such as word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, drawing, and database capabilities," he says.

The success of the project can be measured by the reaction of the lecturing staff and, more importantly, by the reaction of the students, he says. "The lecturing staff are very pleased because they benefit from a stable environment, with redundant SunRay servers and automatic failover that ensures that the practical tutorials can be completed without any downtime, due to possible hardware failure. Meanwhile, the students benefit from an environment with very quick response time, with access to a host of office productivity tools," Burger adds.

Michael Norman, head of the UWC's Computer Sciences Department, adds that the institution also believes in exposing its students to a wide variety of technology systems. "Not only does the SunRay system provide excellent functionality for productivity, but it gives our students insight into the diverse technology systems that can address the requirements of modern businesses. When they leave the University, our students have a broad-based education that covers various sectors in the ICT world," he says.

Computer science lecturer, James Connan, says his initial resistance to the SunRay system has turned to enthusiasm. "The manageability of the thin client environment is particularly impressive - the students cannot interfere with the configuration. This means that while the Windows lab has to be reconfigured on almost a daily basis, those using the SunRay system can do their work and not interfere with the system. It is also very simple to add new software packages and patches on the central server," he says.

Burger believes there is considerable potential for the SunRay system in the local market. "To date, SunRay technology has been very under-rated in this country. However, in the rest of the world, it is widely implemented in call centres, financial broker firms, in classrooms, as ERP front-ends, as office desktops, and even Wide Area Network (WAN)-based SunRays in the home for Internet Service Providers. Owing to the cost, security and manageability advantages of the system, we expect to repeat our success with the SunRay technology at other customer sites," he concludes.

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