Nishant Iyer - Portena
Published: 2023-04-14 05:53:53

Greetings, my name is Nishant Iyer, a 14-year-old student with a passion for computer science. I have been deeply invested in the field from a tender age, having constructed Arduino robots at a mere seven years old. Over time, my interests have evolved and diversified, and I have embarked on a journey of self-teaching by auditing online courses from various universities.

Through my endeavors, I have mastered a multitude of programming languages such as Python, which I acquired during my fifth-grade year, followed by JavaScript in seventh grade, and finally, Haskell in ninth grade. Additionally, I possess a strong inclination towards non-technical aspects of computer science, including but not limited to blockchain development, virtualization, Linux/Unix systems, and penetration testing.

My contributions to open-source projects and participation in coding hackathons and CTFs have earned me top rankings as an Eulerian and Hackthebox. For the past two years, I have dedicated myself to Ethereum-related projects, but my current focus is developing Plutus applications for Cardano.
As a developer at Cardano, I monitor the High Performance Cloud market and provide cost-efficient 
ledgers. While monitoring one of the ledgers in Singapore, I wondered about the RAM and processing 
power required for a remote desktop connection. To my surprise, I found that it only needed around 
10MB of RAM. This sparked the idea of Portena - a small single-board computer with 100MB RAM, a 
1GHz processor, and an LTE modem that could connect to a cloud server and mirror its activities on a 
desktop screen using an HDMI/VGA cable. By renting and paying for only the required hourly basis 
computing power, we could avoid buying a full computer and quickly adjust the computing power as 
needed. This could indeed revolutionize computers as there would be no longer the need to own 
physical hardware and we could just rent the hardware. 
Personal computing needs are very discrete, in that we sometimes use the CPU to its full capacity and 
sometimes only a fraction of it. Because CPU utilization varies every second, most computing power is 
wasted or idle for the majority of the time. This represents a waste of computing power. Furthermore, 
traditional PCs limit our computational ability because we cannot compute more than the available ram 
or store more than the available storage space, which frequently results in lag and performance 
degradation. As a result, we are forced to update the hardware, which raises the cost. 
Physical hardware increases the user's vulnerability to viruses, malware and hacking which can 
compromise personal and sensitive information. 
"Every once in a while, a new technology, an old problem, and a big idea turn into an innovation," Dean 
Kamen once said. The time has come to think outside the box and reimagine computers. 
Portena addresses all of these issues, including compute resource waste, costs, carbon footprint, and so 
on. 
We would now like to provide a detailed overview of the technology, including its novelty, feasibility, 
and potential. 
In the virtualization part, we have rented some of the instances from alibaba cloud and aws to test the 
connectivity and billing models. We have also rented some openshift virtual desktop infrastructure for 
testing our own model of resource allocation which we have developed. 
Portena's Elastic Allocation Model utilizes a collective representation of RAM and balloon-like containers 
that can shrink and expand based on the user's needs. This approach is fundamentally different from the 
static resource allocation approach commonly used by cloud providers like AWS, where resources are 
allocated to users based on predefined units. With Portena, the use of containers allows for quick 
allocation and deallocation of resources, reducing costs and increasing efficiency. Additionally, Portena's 
pricing model is more sustainable and affordable for users, as they only pay for what they use on an 
hourly basis, as opposed to traditional computing models that require users to purchase or lease fixed 
hardware configurations regardless of their actual needs. For example, a server with a capacity of 
32,000 GBs could easily serve over 1000 users, each with 32GB of RAM. In the scenario where user 1 
uses 8GB of RAM, user 2 uses 12GB of RAM, and user 3 uses 12GB of RAM, they can all be 
accommodated in a single instance. This approach keeps other instances idle until the primary instance 
reaches its maximum capacity. By allowing each user to scale up to 32GB of RAM and distributing the 
load in an order-wise fashion, we can meet customer needs while conserving electricity and computing 
power. 
How will the user pay hourly basis, won't it be a hassle? 
Portena's app offers a simple and convenient payment system. Users can purchase computational 
credits in advance, and these credits are then used to pay for the hourly usage of the virtual desktop. 
This eliminates the need for users to make hourly payments and makes the process much more 
streamlined. Additionally, the use of computational credits allows for easier budgeting and cost control. 
Users can easily track their usage and remaining credits through the app, making it a hassle-free 
experience. For example, if a user purchases 100 computational credits, and each credit is worth 1 hour 
of computation time, then the user can use the computational resources for 100 hours. If the user only 
uses 50 hours, then they will have 50 credits left that they can use later. Using computational credits as 
a form of marketing can be an innovative approach to increase customer engagement and drive 
sales.For example - Rewards for online purchases, referral programmes, Social media engagement and 
loyalty programs. This will surely save the user tons of money, based on my research 60% cheaper. 
One of the key advantages of portena, is its portability. Due to its small and minimal hardware 
requirements, Portena can be used on-the-go. 
Portena's virtual computing concept has the potential to revolutionize not just traditional desktop 
computing, but also the mobile and wearable technology space. As more and more devices move 
towards thinner, lighter form factors, the need for hardware-based computing is decreasing.By 
leveraging cloud computing and virtualization technology, devices can now be designed to rely on 
remote computing power rather than local hardware. In the case of foldable phones, for instance, the 
flexible screen technology allows for a larger display area without increasing the size of the device. 
However, this can lead to limitations in terms of hardware capacity, particularly in terms of RAM and 
processing power. With Portena's virtual computing model, a foldable phone could rely on cloud 
computing to perform complex tasks, while maintaining a slim form factor. Similarly, other wearables 
such as smart watches or augmented reality glasses could benefit from Portena's technology. By relying 
on remote computing power, these devices could provide more advanced features without the need for 
bulky hardware. This could lead to a new era of wearable technology that is both sleek and powerful. 
Potential of Portena is indeed enormous, especially with the imminent arrival of 5G technology. With 
5G, the latency between the device and the cloud will be reduced to almost zero, making it possible to 
run applications in the cloud and stream them to devices in real-time without any noticeable lag. This 
makes Portena an ideal device for a variety of applications, ranging from education and gaming to 
business and personal use. Decentralized cloud computing can provide additional benefits in terms of 
security and privacy, as it allows for data to be stored and processed in a distributed network rather 
than in a centralized location. This can be done by locating servers in every 1km all around the world. 
This can help to reduce the risk of data breaches or other security incidents, as well as providing greater 
control over who has access to sensitive data. Also as everything is stored in secure state-of-the-art data 
centers there is no possibility of a risk. 
There are several devices in the market for example - the DaaS (Desktop-As-A-Service offered by 
vmware and aws for remote and hybrid work) and also the thin client which leverages the concept of 
cloud computing to provide PCs but none of them have taken this approach to this level. For the past 
few months, we have been conducting a lot of market research but to my surprise i didn't find any 
similar products. Truly, portena is completely novel and first of its kind. Portena's feasibility can be 
evaluated from multiple perspectives. From a technical standpoint, the use of lightweight hardware and
cloud-based virtual desktop infrastructure makes the system scalable and efficient. The elasticity and 
resource allocation model ensures that users only pay for the computing power they use, making it 
more cost-effective than traditional computing models. Moreover, the use of LTE modems in the 
hardware enables remote access to the virtual desktop from anywhere with internet connectivity. From 
a market perspective, Portena's model could be feasible due to its potential to disrupt the personal 
computing market. As more and more people turn to remote work and education, the need for 
affordable and flexible computing solutions is growing rapidly. Portena's model of computational credits 
and hourly payment can enable users to access computing power on-demand, without having to worry 
about the upfront cost of buying a traditional computer. All we need for the remote connection is just 
10 Mbbps of stable network connection which can be arranged easily nowadays. We are eagerly looking 
for mentors, investors and incubators to bring my idea to fruition and also incubate it into a successful 
company.