Joyent SmartOS

SmartOS is a specialized, open-source hypervisor platform designed for cloud computing and data center virtualization. It was originally developed by Joyent, a cloud computing software and services company founded in 2004. The operating system is built on top of the illumos kernel, which is a descendant of OpenSolaris. Unlike traditional operating systems, SmartOS is designed to run entirely in RAM, making it a highly efficient and secure platform for managing heavy workloads and operating virtual machines and containers.

In 2016, the South Korean electronics giant Samsung Electronics acquired Joyent to strengthen its cloud software capabilities and support its vast ecosystem of mobile and IoT devices. Today, SmartOS continues to be a cornerstone of modern cloud infrastructure development under Samsung's ownership, maintained as an open-source project that serves both commercial enterprise needs and the broader developer community.