starlight

Starlight is a secure, next-generation VMware replacement designed to provide a seamless platform across on-premises and edge environments. Built with a security-first philosophy, Starlight incorporates Zero Trust principles by default and confidential computing as a core feature, ensuring robust protection for your workloads and data.

Key Features of Starlight

• Unified Platform: Starlight delivers a consistent experience across on-prem and edge deployments, simplifying operations and enabling seamless scalability.

• Confidential Compute Built-In: With Confidential Compute at its core, Starlight ensures data remains encrypted even during processing, offering unparalleled security for sensitive workloads.

• Modern Workload Support: Optimized for containers, Kubernetes, microVMs, and traditional virtual machines, Starlight is built to run modern, demanding workloads with exceptional performance and efficiency.

• Zero Trust Networking: Starlight's cutting-edge networking architecture connects applications and data securely without relying on the cloud or complex network infrastructure, ensuring high performance and reliability.

• Security First: With Zero Trust baked in, Starlight enforces strict access controls, workload isolation, and end-to-end encryption to keep your environment safe.

• High Performance and QoS: Starlight is engineered to deliver outstanding performance with built-in Quality of Service (QoS) capabilities, ensuring consistent operation even under heavy workloads.

Starlight is more than just a hypervisor—it's a secure foundation for the future of virtualization. Whether you're running legacy applications or deploying cutting-edge technologies, Starlight is ready to meet your needs.

In short, yes. Starlighht is not just an alternative to VMware; it’s a next-generation platform engineered to redefine what virtualization can do for your organization. While VMware has been a cornerstone of virtualization for years, Starlight takes a fresh approach by focusing on:

• Security at Its Core: Built with advanced features like Quantum Hardening and Active Response Capability (ARC), Starlight is designed to protect against modern and future threats.

• Seamless Ecosystem Integrations: The Mainsail team is actively expanding the Starlight ecosystem with integrations for orchestration, storage, networking, and management tools. Soon, Starlight will support the full range of capabilities that VMware administrators and developers rely on today.

• Modern Workload Optimization: Whether you’re deploying AI workloads, confidential computing, or edge applications, Starlight offers unparalleled performance and security in any environment.

Designed for Your Needs
Starlight supports two distinct user experiences, ensuring a smooth transition for teams of all expertise levels:

• Traditional Administrators: A management console that feels familiar to VMware users, with intuitive controls and deep visibility into your infrastructure.

• Cloud-Native Teams: A developer-centric interface modeled after the cloud experience you know, enabling rapid deployment and management of microVMs and virtualized workloads.

Built for the Future
Starlight isn’t just about matching VMware; it’s about surpassing it. Our focus on modern virtualization technologies like confidential GPU computing, microVMs built from OCI images, and seamless registry integration positions Starlight as a game-changer for IT operations.

The Road Ahead
The Mainsail team is working tirelessly to bring full compatibility with the broader virtualization ecosystem, from advanced storage solutions to orchestration platforms. With each update, Starlight gets closer to becoming a full VMware replacement, offering organizations like yours the ability to modernize without compromise.

Yes, Starlight is designed with a strong emphasis on security, aligning with the principles outlined in NIST Special Publication 800-207, which defines Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA).

NIST Computer Security Resource Center

While Starlight incorporates many of these principles, achieving full compliance with NIST SP 800-207 involves a comprehensive approach that extends beyond the hypervisor itself. It requires the integration of various components and policies across the entire enterprise infrastructure. Mainsail is committed to supporting organizations in their journey toward Zero Trust by ensuring that Starlight serves as a robust and secure foundation within a holistic ZTA strategy.

Yes, Starlight is fully compatible with Kubernetes, offering a robust and secure foundation for your containerized applications. Designed to enhance security and performance, Starlight integrates seamlessly with Kubernetes environments, providing features such as hardware-based isolation and confidential computing. This ensures that your Kubernetes workloads benefit from advanced security measures and optimal performance, making Starlight an excellent choice for modern, secure, and efficient container orchestration.

Beyond simple compatibility, Starlight empowers you to deploy Kubernetes in multiple flexible forms tailored to your operational needs:

• K3S: Lightweight Kubernetes for edge deployments or resource-constrained environments.

• RKE2: Robust Kubernetes distribution for enterprise-grade workloads.

• MicroVMs: Deploy Kubernetes on microVMs for enhanced efficiency and faster provisioning, efficient resource usage of hardware, all while maintaining isolation and security.

• Full-Blown VMs: For traditional Kubernetes environments requiring comprehensive virtualization support, Starlight delivers unmatched performance and scalability.

Starlight’s flexibility ensures that no matter how you choose to run Kubernetes, you’ll benefit from its advanced security features, hardware-level isolation, and performance optimizations.

No, Starlight is not currently open-source, but it is built on and utilizes open-source technologies. While it remains a proprietary solution, Mainsail is open to exploring future possibilities for community collaboration and contribution.

Starlight is designed to operate seamlessly on a wide range of hardware platforms, including x86 architectures from Intel and AMD, as well as ARM-based systems. This broad compatibility ensures that Starlight can be deployed across various hardware configurations, providing flexibility and performance tailored to your organization's needs.

Edge systems often process, store, and transmit sensitive and confidential data that is outside of the Enterprise security perimeter, making them more difficult to monitor and protect. Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting lower levels of edge systems to gain persistent access to the system and evade detection.

Starlight is purpose-built to support Zero Trust principles, ensuring that every interaction within your infrastructure is verified, secure, and monitored. Here’s how Starlight provides a robust foundation for Zero Trust:

1. Hardware-Based Security
   Starlight leverages hardware roots of trust (e.g., TPM, secure elements) to authenticate systems and enforce strict access controls at the foundational level. This ensures that only trusted components can participate in your environment.

2. Granular Micro-Segmentation
   Starlight isolates workloads at the hypervisor level, creating micro-segments that prevent unauthorized lateral movement within your infrastructure. Each segment is independently secured, reducing attack surfaces.

3. Dynamic Policy Enforcement
   Through integration with identity providers and security policies, Starlight enforces least privilege access dynamically. Real-time context—such as user roles, device health, and location—is used to grant or deny access to resources.

4. End-to-End Encryption
   All communications between virtual machines, applications, and external systems are encrypted by default, ensuring data integrity and confidentiality even in hostile environments.

5. Continuous Monitoring and Active Response
   Starlight’s Active Response Capability (ARC) constantly monitors workloads and infrastructure for potential threats, proactively defending against exploits while providing visibility into system behavior.

6. Secure Integration with Zero Trust Ecosystems
   Starlight integrates seamlessly with Zero Trust architectures, supporting tools for identity management, threat detection, and policy enforcement. It works as a secure building block for enterprise-wide Zero Trust strategies.

Starlight offers competitive subscription-based pricing, designed to be significantly more cost-effective than VMware. We provide flexible pricing models tailored to meet the specific needs of your organization. For detailed information or to discuss a customized pricing plan, please contact our sales team.