Innotek

Innotek GmbH was a German software company active in the early 2000s, based in Germany. It specialized in virtualization technology and development tools, and was best known for VirtualBox, a cross-platform desktop virtualization system that runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. VirtualBox enables users to run multiple guest operating systems on a single host and offers features such as hardware virtualization support, snapshots, and a modular architecture.

The company contributed to the broader virtualization ecosystem and built a desktop virtualization product that found widespread use among developers, IT professionals, and hobbyists for testing and development tasks.

In 2008, Sun Microsystems announced and completed the acquisition of Innotek. The deal brought Innotek's virtualization technology under Sun's software portfolio, and VirtualBox became part of Sun's offerings. After Sun was acquired by Oracle in 2010, VirtualBox continued to be developed as an Oracle product.

VirtualBox is released under an open-source license for its core components (GPL v2), with certain features and extensions distributed under the Oracle PUEL license. Innotek's name largely faded as its technology was integrated into the acquiring companies, but its legacy persists through VirtualBox's ongoing development and widespread adoption.