Docker acquires Unikernels company’

The American Docker acquires the British start-up Unikernels Systems. The small company focuses on unikernels, which use the minimum required parts of an operating system to run applications. Docker sees unikernels as a complement to Docker containers.

Founded last year, Unikernel Systems employs 13 people, many of whom were previously involved in the development of Xen hypervisors. The company focused on developing tools that developers can use when creating unikernels. With unikernels, source code is compiled into its own operating system, using only functionality that the application minimally needs to run.

Unikernels are therefore considerably smaller than containers, with all the associated advantages in terms of flexibility, simplicity, speed and security. With the acquisition, Docker hopes to gain an even firmer foothold in the microservices development market, also with a view to the future in which Internet-of-things applications become more important. Unikernels complement containers in this area, according to the company.

Docker’s tools were already partially unikernel-capable, but now that Unikernel Systems is part of Docker, the integration will be improved, offering a single platform for virtual machines, containers, and unikernels.