Sun Microsystems announced the company will add VMware Virtual Desktop Manager and VMware Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) to its line up of fully supported desktop virtualization solutions Sun offers to customers. As part of an expanded relationship between Sun and VMware, the new offerings from Sun bring more choice to Sun Ray thin client customers who now have the flexibility to select either the Sun Virtual Desktop Connector, a component of Sun VDI Software, or VMware Virtual Desktop Manager as their preferred connection broker for virtual desktop deployments. Sun will make VMware VDI and VMware Virtual Desktop Manager, along with support services for the products, available to customers via the Sun price list later this month. More information on the Sun Ray family of virtual display clients and software can be found at www.sun.com/sunray.

In addition to offering VMware VDI and VMware Virtual Desktop Manager, Sun Ray virtual display clients are now VMware Ready Certified for VMware VDI. The certification signifies that Sun Ray thin clients have passed VMware's testing criteria for interoperability and consistent quality performance when deployed in conjunction with VMware VDI and Virtual Desktop Manager. This is made possible through the new Sun Ray Connector for VMware Virtual Desktop Manager, an add-on component of Sun Ray Software, that provides tight integration and allows a highly-secure connection between Sun Ray thin clients and VMware Virtual Desktop Manager. With this joint solution, Sun Ray users can access and display virtual desktops based on Windows XP Professional, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008.

"Enabling choice for our desktop virtualization customers is a paramount goal for Sun. Through our relationship with VMware, we're able to better deliver to customers a broad range of virtual desktop technologies that can be deployed to meet their specific VDI needs," said Bob Gianni, senior director of desktop systems engineering at Sun. "Sun's innovative and industry-proven Sun Ray technology combined with VMware's popular, leading-edge Virtual Desktop Manager and VDI products offer a powerful choice for customers seeking to take advantage of the cost-savings, efficiency, and eco benefits of a thin client-based virtual desktop deployment."

"Sun Ray thin clients and software, which feature Sun's high-performance Appliance Link Protocol(TM), are an attractive choice for organizations that deploy VMware VDI and Virtual Desktop Manager," said Jerry Chen, senior director of enterprise desktop at VMware. "Adding the availability of VMware Virtual Desktop Manager with Sun Ray technology combines two best-of-breed technologies to offer an outstanding desktop virtualization solution for customers."

Last year, SAP Netherlands moved its Educational Center to a new building and Sun Ray played a key role. "We wanted to ensure that we provided each student with their own system while keeping cooling costs down. Using Sun Ray technology, as opposed to traditional PCs, helped us to achieve this goal all while realizing the additional benefits of reduced administration costs and the increased efficiency and flexibility inherent to a thin client and virtual desktop deployment," said Jean Paul Beerens, Expert Technical Support Consultant IT of SAP Netherlands. "Our current architecture, which includes Sun Ray virtual display clients, Sun Ray Server Software 4 running on the Solaris 10 Operating System, and VMware ESX Server Software for hosting Windows XP Pro, fits our needs perfectly. We're pleased to know that VMware and Sun are continuing to work together to offer new solutions that will help us improve our offering to students and meet new challenges."

Sun Ray virtual display clients, Sun Ray Software and Sun VDI Software are key components of Sun's broad desktop virtualization offering, which are a set of core desktop technologies and solutions within the Sun xVM virtualization portfolio. Sun Ray thin clients offer a longer device life-cycle at a fraction of the cost and total power consumption of a traditional desktop PC and allow customers to display their choice of Solaris, Windows or Linux virtual desktops.