Sun Microsystems on Wednesday expanded its thin-client product line with two new hardware platforms the company says provides alternatives for "environmentally friendly" computing, as well as enhanced security. They also expand the ability for the Sun Ray line of thin-client systems to operate across multiple operating systems and microprocessor-based servers.

"A year ago Sun was really just focused on selling thin-client devices and solutions that ran on Sparc-based Solaris servers," says Greg Wolff, marketing director for Sun's desktop group. "Today we have a desktop infrastructure. We're running on Linux and Windows, and we can deliver applications to desktops from servers running on Sparc or x86 processors."

The Sun Ray 2 is a "low-cost, low-power" thin client that operates at 4 watts of power, a reduction from the 20 watts of power required in the Sun Ray 1 thin client and much less than the 100 watts to 200 watts of power required for a typical desktop PC, Wolff says.

The Sun Ray 2FS is a higher-end thin client providing greater security through the use of a fiber port.

Sun Ray 2 and Sun Ray 2FS are available now and priced at $249 and $499 each, respectively.

Sun also announced an upcoming version of Sun Ray software that will be released this quarter and include a remote desktop protocol client for connection to a Windows environment. Sun's RDP is based on Microsoft's RDP specification that was licensed by Sun last year.