The Xen Project is comprised of a diverse set of member companies and contributors that are committed to the growth and success of the Xen Project Hypervisor. The Xen Project Hypervisor is a staple technology for server and cloud vendors, and is gaining traction in the embedded, security and automotive space. This blog series highlights the companies contributing to the changes and growth being made to the Xen Project, and how the Xen Project technology bolsters their business.
Name:Â Stefano Stabellini
Title:Â Virtualization Architect
Company:Â Aporeto
When did you start contributing to the Xen Project? Â
I started contributing to Xen Project in 2008. At that time, I was working for Citrix in the XenServer product team. I have been contributing every year since then, that makes it 10 years now!
How does contributing to the Xen Project benefit your company?
Aporeto is a cloud-native security company. By participating in Xen Project development, Aporeto gains access to the technology it needs. In fact, Xen Project is a great platform to build secure sandboxing solutions. Xen Project has always made security one of its top priorities. The clear and transparent security policy, the disaggregated architecture, and the many open source security projects based on Xen Project stand as proofs of that.
How does the Xen Project’s technology help your business?
The world of today is very different from the world when Xen Project started, but the need for solid security solutions has only increased. Xen Project distinguishes itself for providing a trustworthy foundational platform with strong security and isolation properties. At Aporeto we intend to use those properties to provide a secure runtime environment for cloud-native applications.
What are some of the major changes you see with virtualization and the transition to cloud native computing?Â
Virtualization will become less about virtualizing hardware and more about providing secure execution environments for applications in different formats. For that to happen, it needs to move away from the emulation of ancient hardware devices and compatibility with aged boot processes. Virtualization is transitioning to modern, nimble, and legacy-free executing models that are a better fit for cloud-native applications.
What advice would you give someone considering contributing to the Xen Project?
Learning the intricate details of the Xen Project hypervisor can be daunting at first, but it is fun, and the community is great. My advice is never to stop learning, take nothing for granted, and empower your curiosity to discover how things work at all levels.
What excites you most about the future of Xen?
Xen is an extremely flexible platform for building vastly different disaggregated architectures. For this reason, it can be used at all levels, from Big Iron to IoT and safety critical domains. We are seeing new use-cases and new sub-projects being created, and I think the trend will only increase in the next few years. This is very exciting!
