C1vm

C1vm is a family of lightweight virtual machines designed for cloud-native workloads and edge computing. C1vm aims to deliver near-native performance with small footprints, rapid startup, and strong isolation between workloads. It targets environments requiring multi-tenant safety and predictable resource usage, such as microservices platforms and edge deployments.

The architecture centers on a compact microhypervisor that runs beneath guest environments. Guests can be minimal Linux distributions, unikernel images, or other compatible operating systems. C1vm exposes standard virtual devices for memory, storage, and networking, while using para-virtualized I/O drivers to reduce overhead. The runtime emphasizes deterministic startup times and low, predictable memory footprints, aided by modular components and optional hardware-assisted virtualization.

Management and lifecycle are provided through a programmatic API and a command-line interface. Common operations include create, start, pause, resume, snapshot, and migrate. For large deployments, C1vm can be integrated with orchestration systems via adapters that expose VM lifecycle to schedulers and policy engines, enabling features like resource quotas, auto-scaling, and live migration.

Security and isolation are achieved through strict separation between guests, with support for memory protection, secure boot, and encrypted ephemeral storage where supported by hardware. Compatibility goals prioritize standard VM images while enabling lean, minimal guest environments suitable for container-like workloads.

C1vm is considered experimental in many ecosystems but is discussed as a potential alternative to traditional VMs and container runtimes for certain multi-tenant and edge scenarios. See also microVM, virtualization, unikernel.