1400 seats across four schools in the Middle East outfitted with Sun's ultra-thin client Sun Ray

Dubai, UAE, July 16, 2008: Sun Microsystems strengthened its presence in the educational sector when the SABIS School Network acquired the Sun Ray ultra-thin client based solution to outfit it in the examination halls of its schools.

So far, the deployment covered 1400 seats across four campuses of the International Schools of Choueifat, which are part of the SABIS School Network. SABIS is an international, college-preparatory education system currently implemented in 50 schools in 15 countries, serving 40,000 students around the world. The Choueifat schools are located throughout the Middle East in the UAE, Qatar, Egypt, Lebanon, Oman, Bahrain, Jordan, Iraq, and Syria.

SABIS heavily relies on educational technology to enhance academic achievements and increase the efficiency of their schools' environment. Thus, the Sun Ray installation streamlined the technology for students undertaking exams, replacing PCs with Sun Ray 2 clients on desktops and using the Sun x64 server for the backend. The latest SABIS application to run on the Sun Ray platform is the Integrated Testing and Learning (ITL), which allows students to sit for a range of tests on their computers.

The solution assisted SABIS in achieving its deadlines for rapid expansion and ensuring a fast return on investment through ease of deployment and administration. With Sun Ray, one administrator can administer hundreds of desktops.

"We chose the Sun Ray solution because it was the best end-to-end solution to roll out new exam halls with our new advance ITL application (Integrated Testing and Learning). The advantages of deploying this solution are numerous; students can continue to access SABIS's standard Windows-based exam application, minimal maintenance is required on the long-run, no expensive, hard-to- manage PCs will be needed, and all worries regarding desktop patching, upgrades and viruses will be disspitated," said Serge Bakhos, Group Vice President for Information Technology and Books Publishing, SABIS.

With its proven track record in high-security environments, Sun Ray was the perfect choice for the examination halls to ensure transparency in the examination process. "Sun Rays, extensively used in environments where security is paramount - the United States military for example - provided a method to ensure a secure environment that would prevent pupils from being able to manipulate the system in any way," said Tarek Ayass, Education and Research Regional Manager, Sun Microsystems MENA.

Sun Ray 2 clients are ideal for cost-sensitive environments, such as education, because of their energy saving features. The typical power consumption of each client is four watts, making it one of the most energy efficient units on the market.

"By working with SABIS, we showed that a Sun Ray 2 client would reduce power bills for the desktop environment. It also offers various side benefits - rooms are quieter and cooler, thereby reducing air conditioning costs as well. This aligns with our growth strategy for delivering to regional customers the solutions that support their business more efficiently, while reducing energy consumption," added Ayass.

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Press Release 2008