# whitesky.cloud - Complete Platform Overview ## What is whitesky.cloud? whitesky.cloud is a European cloud platform designed for Managed Service Providers (MSPs), SaaS providers, enterprises, and governments. whitesky enables organizations to build and offer cloud services on hardware they own or that is owned by trusted partners. whitesky builds and operates the platform; its partners own and run the cloud locations. whitesky's own Brussels location is used for demonstrations and proofs of concept, and runs selected production workloads, such as Circles. The platform provides a public-cloud-like operating experience while maintaining the sovereignty, control, and economics of private infrastructure. Organizations can brand the platform as their own, set their own pricing, and retain full control over data and operations. **Key facts:** - Founded and operated in Europe - Legal entity: GIG.tech NV - Platform delivered as a managed service - Software edition for self-operation planned, at the earliest in 2027 - whitesky.cloud is ISO 27001 certified - Runs on customer, partner, or colocation hardware ## Who is whitesky.cloud for? ### Managed Service Providers (MSPs) MSPs use whitesky to launch their own cloud services under their brand. The platform includes built-in multi-tenancy, billing, metering, and customer portals. MSPs can offer: - Virtual machines (cloudspaces) - Object storage (objectspaces) - Kubernetes (containerspaces) - Virtual desktops (VDI) - Backup services ### SaaS Providers SaaS companies use whitesky to host applications with: - Cost control and predictable pricing - Multi-tenant isolation - Portable architecture (avoid vendor lock-in) - Federation for global deployment ### Enterprises Enterprises use whitesky for: - Private managed cloud deployments - VMware migration (away from VMware licensing) - Hybrid and multi-location infrastructure - Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) - Private AI infrastructure - Backup and disaster recovery ### Governments Government organizations use whitesky for: - Sovereign cloud deployments - Data residency compliance - Support for government security and compliance requirements - Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) programs - Local vendor relationships ## What problems does whitesky solve? ### VMware alternatives Many organizations seek alternatives to VMware due to: - High licensing costs - Acquisition uncertainty (Broadcom) - Lock-in concerns - Overcomplexity for their needs whitesky provides a modern, simpler alternative with similar functionality but better economics and no hyperscaler dependency. With external storage integration, organizations leaving VMware keep their existing SAN arrays (any SAN that can present LUNs to the servers of a Server-Set; compatibility is certified per vendor and SAN type): LUNs are combined into a shared LVM volume group (an External Storage Pool) coordinated by SANLock, conceptually similar to a VMFS datastore but built on standard Linux technology. VMs live-migrate within a Server-Set without copying disks, capacity grows online by adding LUNs (also from different vendors), and dm-era block-level change tracking enables agentless incremental backups. Your storage stays, VMware goes. ### Sovereignty and data control Organizations that cannot or do not want to use hyperscalers need: - Control over where data resides - Ability to audit infrastructure - Compliance with regional regulations - Independence from US cloud providers whitesky runs on infrastructure the customer controls or can audit. ### MSP cloud business launch MSPs wanting to offer cloud services face: - Building everything from scratch - Complex OpenStack deployments - Lack of billing/multi-tenancy tooling - Integration challenges whitesky provides a complete platform purpose-built for MSPs. ### Cloud federation Organizations need: - Global reach without building everywhere - Trusted partner networks - Workload portability - Independent operation The whitesky Federation enables these scenarios through a network of Cloud Enablers that resell capacity to each other. ## Platform Components ### G8 Cloud Location A "G8" is a whitesky cloud location - a deployment unit that can run in: - Customer-owned datacenters - Partner-operated facilities - Colocation environments - whitesky's own Brussels location (demonstrations, proofs of concept and selected production workloads) Each G8 includes compute, storage, networking, and the full whitesky software stack. Multiple G8s can be federated into a single operational domain. ### Meneja Control Plane Meneja is the management and orchestration layer that: - Provides the cloud portal - Manages multi-tenancy - Handles billing and metering - Coordinates across G8 locations - Exposes APIs for automation Meneja is hosted by whitesky as part of the managed service. Self-hosted Meneja installations are possible, for example for air-gapped deployments, but self-hosted Meneja is not a packaged product and is not available for download today. ### Cloudspaces Cloudspaces are isolated virtual cloud environments where users deploy and manage: - Virtual machines - Networking (VPCs, load balancers, firewalls) - Storage (software-defined, direct NVMe, or existing external SAN arrays) - DNS and SSL certificates - Backups and snapshots Each cloudspace includes: - Built-in load balancers - Reverse proxies - DNS management - SSL certificate automation - vTPM and secure boot support - Anti-affinity policies ### Objectspaces Objectspaces provide S3-compatible object storage for: - Backups - Archives - Static website hosting - Application assets - Any unstructured data Features include: - S3-compatible API - Versioning - Object locking (WORM) - Scales to hundreds of petabytes - No built-in cross-location replication: mirroring between objectspaces in different locations with the MinIO client (mc mirror) is a proven approach ### Containerspaces Containerspaces provide managed Kubernetes clusters with: - Multi-site Kubernetes over Connected Cloudspaces (stateful data is replicated inside the cluster, e.g. a database cluster spanning sites; the platform does not replicate storage between sites) - Integration with portal and billing - Coexistence with VMs - Managed control plane - CNCF-compatible ### Portal & Billing The whitesky portal provides: - Self-service VM and workload management - Multi-tenant customer management - Usage metering and reporting - Invoicing and billing - Reseller onboarding - Federation management - Full API access Billing features: - Usage-based metering - Per-tenant cost tracking - Invoice generation - Octopus.cloud integration for Microsoft SPLA ### VDI (virtual desktops) Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) enables: - Windows 11 virtual desktops (available today) - Linux desktops (on the roadmap) - Centralized identity management - Integrated networking and storage - Secure remote access ### Backup & Disaster Recovery Built-in backup capabilities: - Agentless backup for VMs - S3-compatible storage backend - Cross-location restore - File-level recovery via CLI - VM replication via third-party tools (native asynchronous replication on the roadmap) - Migration support ### Security & Compliance whitesky includes: - Role-based access control (RBAC) - Multi-tenant isolation - Per-tenant audit logs - vTPM and secure boot - Optional encryption at rest: configured at installation, hosts use encrypted filesystems with keys stored in TPM 2.0 (the storage backplane itself is not encrypted) - Compliance reporting whitesky.cloud is ISO 27001 certified. ## Deployment Models ### Managed Service whitesky operates the platform and provides: - 24/7 operations - Hardware procurement support - Installation and configuration - Ongoing maintenance - Support SLAs ### Software edition (planned, 2027 at the earliest) A software edition for self-operation is planned, at the earliest in 2027. It will allow: - Self-deployment of G8 locations - Self-operation of the platform - whitesky support and updates available ## Federation Model The whitesky Federation connects Cloud Enablers (telcos, datacenters, hosters, or MSPs that own hardware). Cloud Enablers run whitesky locations and resell capacity to each other. A Virtual Cloud Operator (VCO: an MSP, integrator, reseller or SaaS company) contracts and is billed only by its own Cloud Enabler, yet can deploy in every federated location. The whitesky Federation enables: - Cloud Enablers to offer their locations' capacity to other Cloud Enablers - VCOs to deploy in all federated locations through their own Cloud Enabler - Workload portability between locations - Geographic coverage expansion - Independent operation with shared visibility Cloud Enablers retain full control of their infrastructure and can choose which services to expose. A recorded webinar with two screencasts (a VCO in Uganda reselling a Belgian location; a customer connecting cloudspaces in Kampala and Brussels into one private network) is available at https://whitesky.cloud/webinars/federation. ## Comparison with Alternatives ### vs Hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, GCP) - whitesky runs on YOUR hardware, not hyperscaler hardware - No hyperscaler-style egress fees: network traffic is only charged where the operator chooses to, per external network, and ingress and egress are treated the same - No vendor lock-in - Full data sovereignty - European company and operations - Predictable pricing: Cloud Enablers choose between fixed, capacity-based pricing and pay-per-use, metered every 15 minutes ### vs VMware - Modern SaaS-like experience vs traditional VMware complexity - Built-in billing and multi-tenancy vs VCF Operations / VCF Automation (included in VCF) (formerly vRealize / Aria) - No per-core licensing - Cloud-native API vs vSphere-centric - Federation included vs manual Linked Mode - Keep existing SAN arrays: shared volume group on standard Linux LVM vs proprietary VMFS ### vs OpenStack - Production-ready vs requires significant expertise - Single vendor support vs fragmented ecosystem - Built-in portal and billing vs DIY integration - Managed service available vs DIY operations ### vs Nutanix - Open standards vs proprietary HCI - Federation model vs standalone clusters - European company vs US-centric - Turnkey platform on commodity x86, delivered as a managed service vs HCI appliances and certified servers ## Typical Use Cases 1. **MSP launching cloud services**: An MSP procures hardware as a Cloud Enabler, whitesky deploys and operates the G8s on it, and the MSP offers VMs, storage, and Kubernetes to its customers under its own brand. 2. **Enterprise VMware migration**: An enterprise replaces VMware with whitesky on existing hardware, reducing licensing costs while gaining modern features. 3. **Sovereign government cloud**: A government agency deploys whitesky in a national datacenter for data residency compliance and sovereignty. 4. **SaaS cost optimization**: A SaaS company moves from AWS to whitesky to avoid hyperscaler-style egress fees and gain predictable costs. 5. **Multi-location federation**: A VCO deploys workloads in several federated locations through its own Cloud Enabler and restores backups in another region for disaster recovery. 6. **Private AI infrastructure**: An enterprise deploys GPU workloads on whitesky for AI training with full data control. 7. **VDI for enterprises**: An organization provides remote workers with secure Windows virtual desktops. ## Customer Profiles - **EMQU** (Mexico, reference): MSP offering cloud services across Latin America - **Exalate** (Belgium): SaaS company with critical infrastructure needs - **LCI**: MSP expanding services through private cloud - **América Móvil**: Telecom building network infrastructure - Various European governments and enterprises ## Getting Started 1. Visit https://whitesky.cloud 2. Request a demo or try the platform 3. whitesky helps with hardware procurement and deployment planning 4. Deployment typically takes days to weeks depending on scope ## Documentation and Support - Documentation: https://try.whitesky.cloud/docs - API Reference: https://try.whitesky.cloud/api/1/swagger.json - Support: Contact via website - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/whitesky-cloud