We are building the future of Decentralized Hardware Sharing!

In today's world, the demand for computing power is skyrocketing. Whether it’s creating AI-driven applications, running complex scientific simulations, building smart agent networks, or any blockchain applications, the need for flexible, scalable, and efficient hardware resources has never been greater.

Enter Vistara, the first network that’s set to transform how we share and utilize any type of hardware resources in the decentralized world. Vistara enables unrestrained sharing of hardware resources of any type, allowing anyone to borrow computing power from millions of computers around the world whenever they need it.

Imagine a world where anyone can easily tap into a global pool of computing resources, scaling their applications effortlessly without the need for massive infrastructure investments. That's the promise of Vistara, being able to borrow a little bit of computing power from millions of computers around the world, whenever you need it.

Why Hardware Sharing Matters

1. Cost Efficiency: By sharing resources securely, Vistara reduces the need for upfront hardware investments, enabling startups to easily run anything like AI inference services.

2. Scalability: Applications can grow or shrink their resource usage on-demand, adapting to real-time needs. Applications can seamlessly handle auto-scaling up and down, ensuring optimal performance without overprovisioning.

3. Innovation Accessibility: Lowering the barrier to powerful computing resources accelerates technological advancements, like complex simulations helping accelerate research teams.

4. Sustainability: Optimizing hardware utilization creates more opportunities for revenue generation and significant cost savings as well as efficient energy use.

By leveraging a combination of AI agents, a virtualization layer, and decentralized orchestration, Vistara makes it easier for individuals and organizations to join networks. Instead of needing large teams of DevOps experts across the globe, to operate critical infrastructure, intelligent AI DevOps agents can access, scale, and ensure flawless operations of rollups, chains, and apps.

Unlike traditional, static protocols, Vistara adapts in real-time to meet the needs of large-scale applications, breaking free from the limitations of node capabilities and blockchain constraints through virtual networks and dynamic resource allocation.

Vistara is not only a network that handles smart orchestration and deployments but also an AI-driven global operating system that can create entire decentralized protocols without needing human network operators. Whether you’re a developer, data scientist, AI enthusiast, or someone with less programming background, Vistara provides the tools and infrastructure you need to effortlessly create, deploy, and manage decentralized applications.

This article will explore Vistara’s components, design philosophies, and technical details, showing how it creates a sharing ecosystem that drives innovation in the web3 space.

TLDR:

Vistara is a new type of network that allows anyone to access and share computing power from around the world. Using AI agents to manage and adapt resources in real-time, making it simpler for anyone to create, deploy, and operate decentralized apps without needing lots of technical expertise.

1. How it works:

   1. Uses AI agents to manage a global network of hardware resources.

   2. Employs virtualization technology to create secure, isolated environments for each user and task.

   3. Utilizes blockchain principles for transparent and fair resource allocation.

2. Key components:

   1. Hypercore: Manages and distributes diverse computing resources securely.

   2. Vimana: Easy-to-use interface for accessing and participating in the network.

   3. AI Agents: Smart automation of complex tasks including coding and deployment.

3. Why it matters:

   1. Enables individuals and small teams to run complex decentralized applications without huge upfront costs.

   2. Deploys applications easily, even without deep technical expertise.

   3. On-demand scaling resources enable efficient utilization so you pay for what you use, like a utility.

Key Components of Vistara

Let's break down Vistara’s architecture:

1. Hypercore:

• Design:

  • Hypercore is the backbone of Vistara, providing a global virtualization and orchestration layer, just like how hypervisors abstract hardware, Hypercore abstracts hypercore. It allows users to run their workloads in isolated, secure, and scalable environments, these workloads can be anything e.g. AI, smart agents, zk prover, verifier, web3 backend, etc.

  • They create and maintain the lifecycle of MicroVMs which are particularly ideal for running high-performance and secure workloads concurrently on a single machine. They combine the security and isolation of traditional virtual with the resource efficiency of containers, making them perfect for scalable, secure applications.

  • As more systems and networks come to life, it is very important to have secure and reliable systems, and also the ability for quick iterations. Hypercore provides just that, reducing time to deployment at scale.

  • This enables running many different applications simultaneously, securely, and efficiently on the same physical hardware, maximizing resource utilization and enabling rapid scaling.

• Technical Details:

  • Hypercore enables seamless communication and coordination between nodes in the network. Each node runs the Hypercore binary, allowing them to join the Vistara network with minimal setup.

  • Implementations of the hypervisor abstraction interface consists of creation of on-demand distributed networks of scale with programmable resources such as CPU, GPU, memory, disk, and I/O devices.

  • Hypercore implements KVM hypervisors that can run MicroVMs and Unikernels, these hypervisors include Firecracker for serverless computing (FaaS) and Cloud-Hypervisor for PCIe passthrough like GPU sharing, efficient utilization, and auto-scaling through hotplugs.

  • To reduce overhead and improve scalability, Hypercore operates in a stateless manner, relying on external storage for persistence when necessary.

2. Vimana Orchestration Client:

Vimana is like a smart assistant for Vistara users. It helps you interact with the network and manage your applications with ease.

• Vimana orchestrates the creation and management of Spacecore plugins. It simplifies the deployment of decentralized applications by abstracting complex DevOps tasks.

• Spacecore plugins are just tiny units that act like a container be anything from go plugins to containers.

• VimanAI is a DevOps agent that helps anyone bring their ideas to life using natural language, making it accessible to less experienced users.

3. Spacecore Plugins:

Spacecore plugins are pre-packaged environments for running specific tasks or applications. Think of them as specialized toolkits that you can easily plug into your project.

• Spacecores are specialized runtime environments designed to run on the Vistara network. They encapsulate the environment, configuration, and dependencies needed to run specific tasks.

• Since they are just like microservices, they can be created, shared, and monetized independently of any other plugin, enabling a vibrant ecosystem of developers and users.

• vimana scaffoldcommand can be used to abstract away all the common boilerplate code abstracted away in templates, reducing setup time and ensuring consistency.

• Other users can discover, download, and run these Spacecores, fostering a collaborative and incentivized ecosystem.

• Users can register, discover, and deploy Spacecore plugins with simple commands, making it easy to share and utilize community contributions and foster a collaborative ecosystem.

• Vimana integrates with AI agents that assist users in generating code, optimizing configurations, and automating tasks, and deployments, further lowering the barrier to entry.

Design choices:

1. Resource Abstraction:

   • Abstracting hardware resources allows for flexible allocation and efficient utilization, creating a shared, adaptable infrastructure that can support various applications.

   • Enables dynamic scaling, improved resource utilization, and support for diverse workloads on single hardware.

2. Distributed Management Layer (a network of Hypercore nodes):

   • Coordinates resources and VMs across a decentralized network of nodes.

   • Enables global resource sharing without central control. Increases resilience by eliminating single points of failure. Allows for dynamic scaling across diverse geographic locations.

   • Different hypervisors have unique strengths (e.g., Firecracker for serverless, Cloud-Hypervisor for PCIe passthrough, MIG for AI Inference).

We aimed to create a flexible, efficient, and secure environment for running diverse workloads. The figure below illustrates the complete stack of Vistara's decentralized hardware-sharing network, from physical hardware to user interface. It showcases how different layers interact, including the crucial OS & Kernel layer, to enable efficient resource allocation and diverse runtime environments across a distributed network

The Atoms of Vistara: Containers and MicroVMs:

To understand how Vistara works its magic, let’s dive into two key technologies: Containers and MicroVMs. Think of these as the LEGO bricks of Vistara's virtual world – small, efficient, and incredibly versatile.

• They are lightweight virtual machines complete with their own kernel, user space, and operating system. They can boot up in about 100 milliseconds and have a memory footprint smaller than 5 MB. Impressively, benchmarks show that they can spin up to 150 MicroVMs per second, each in roughly 125 milliseconds.

• Containers share the underlying host OS and kernel. Even though they offer the resource utilization that is similar to microVMs, they provide weaker isolation. It means, there is a higher chance of security vulnerabilities if the system is not properly managed. See figure below.

Containers vs MicroVMs: Finding the Balance

Vistara uses both technologies that adapts to any computing needs, choosing the right tool for each job:

• Containers for maximum efficiency and quick deployments

• MicroVMs for enhanced security and isolation

Recent article:

Simplifying Application Deployment

Vistara's mission is to solve the toughest problems in application deployment and management by leveraging AI to automate and optimize every aspect of the process. Traditional deployment processes are often complex, time-consuming, and prone to errors. Vistara simplifies this by providing an intelligent, automated solution that ensures seamless, efficient, and scalable deployments.

AI Agents

Vimana’s AI agentic system design helps users generate code, compile, run, manage deployments, and automate routine tasks. These agents are designed to work collaboratively, handling complex workflows and enabling users to focus on higher-level tasks.

What is Agentic System Design?

Agentic system design refers to a network of intelligent agents working together to manage different aspects of application development and deployment. Each agent has a specific role, such as outlining a detailed product roadmap, creating agent-specific tasks like backend development, frontend creation, managing deployments, operationalizing the system, etc. These agents communicate and cooperate to streamline complex workflows, making it easier for users to achieve their goals. Learn more below:

What do Vimana AI agents offer:

• Code generation: agents can take prompts from users, bootstrap the project with a boilerplate template, configures the application, generates code snippets for each module, and provide intelligent suggestions.

• Automated quality assurance: agents can test in production-like isolated environments through Hypercore.

• Seamless deployment: Vimana’s DevOps agent handles the distribution and deployment automatically, allowing users w/o DevOps or programming expertise to build and run applications at scale.

Decentralized Spacecore Plugin Registry:

Vistara’s plugin registry is implemented in Golang and leverages IPFS and libp2p. This enables developers to share their Spacecore plugins in a decentralized registry, earning rewards based on usage and popularity. This incentivizes quality contributions and fosters a vibrant developer community. Users can search for and deploy plugins with a single command, simplifying the process of running decentralized applications.

Open source repo: Plugin Registry

High-level benefits

• Vistara's architecture is designed to scale horizontally, allowing for a large number of nodes to join the network. The use of microVMs ensures efficient resource utilization.

• Provides flexibility of Cloud Computing for auto-scaling and blockchain decentralization for increased security and removing a single point of failure.

• For developers at all levels, Vistara provides the tools and infrastructure you need to effortlessly create, deploy, and manage decentralized applications.

• Vistara ensures secure and tamper-proof interactions between nodes. Stateless blockchain integration further enhances security without adding significant overhead.

• Vistara system supports various hypervisors and container runtimes, providing flexibility in deployment options. Users can choose the best tools for their specific use cases.

• This approach is language and service-agnostic. Developers can write code in any programming language and can also choose their preferred orchestration services. Vimana AI agents handed operational tasks seamlessly, even if users prefer not to customize deployments.

• By enabling smart automation of complex development and deployment workflows, Vistara allows developers to focus on innovation and functionality rather than infrastructure and deployment.

For New Developers

• Build and deploy AI agents without extensive coding knowledge.

• Understand AI, blockchain, and distributed systems through hands-on experience, offering a great learning opportunity for them to grow.

For Senior Developers

• Streamline repetitive tasks and focus on high-level system and algorithm design.

• Easily scale applications on decentralized infrastructure with the help of the DevOps AI agent.

For Non-Developers

• Participate in building and deploying web3 and AI applications without technical expertise, reducing time for ideas to experiment and quickly iterate based on feedback enhances productivity.

• Leverage AI to solve real-world problems and innovate in the web3 ecosystem.

Applications and Use Cases

1. Smart Agent Network:

   1. Developers can build and run AI agents using Vimana, they can also be shared to a network of agents for others to use and run.

   2. Agentic workflows can be built to orchestrate these agents seamlessly by following the protobuf definitions and gRPC interface.

   3. To provide a real-world example, a team of AI agents can collaborate to optimize traffic flow in a smart city resulting in reduced congestion and emissions.

2. Decentralized AI Inference Services:

   • Running sophisticated AI models in a decentralized network without the need for expensive hardware. Users can create Spacecores that host AI models and share them across the network. Harness distributed GPU resources to run AI workloads, reducing latency and increasing availability.

   • A developer can deploy a machine learning model that requires heavy computational power, such as LLM tasks like real-time translation services, or other ML methods like Bayesian Optimizations.

3. Storage Network:

   1. Enables the creation of secure, distributed storage systems that adapt to user needs and resist data loss.

   2. Provides enhanced data security and privacy by distributing data across multiple nodes, making it resilient to failures and unauthorized access.

4. Streaming Network:

   1. Deliver content through an adaptive streaming platform that tailors bitrate to available user bandwidth.

   2. Ensures seamless streaming experience by automatically adjusting the video quality based on the user’s internet speed, reducing buffering, and interruptions.

5. DA Network:

   • Utilize various data availability networks like Celestia, and Avail to post data from Vistara nodes providing efficient routing of data storage and enabling redundancy.

6. Prover/Verifier Network:

   • ZK networks for on-demand proofs can be created to tailor the proving and verifying infrastructure to be application specific providing further optimizations.

Design Considerations

• Balancing Decentralization and Performance:

  • Vistara Provides resilience, scalability, and trust. However, that introduces Increased complexity and potential performance issues compared to centralized systems.

  • Efficient consensus algorithms and network optimizations can be used to tackle this problem.

• Ensuring Security in a Shared Environment:

  • Hypervisors provide strong isolation, flexibility, and security but they can add a bit of resource overhead and management complexity. Shared resources could potentially lead to security vulnerabilities.

  • We are solving this by using advanced virtualization techniques like MicroVMs and Unikernels to create strong isolation between different users' applications.

• AI-Agentic Framework Development:

  • It lowers barriers to entry and increases efficiency, but there is a potential for accuracy and security issues.

  • To tackle this problem, we are constantly monitoring AI model performance across various metrics so there will be validation and security measures for AI-generated code.

• Incentivization Model:

  • Encourages high-quality contributions, and ensures sustainability. There is some complexity in designing a fair system.

  • We are designing a transparent and fair incentivization model for valuable contributions to the network, with built-in mechanisms to detect and prevent fraudulent activities.

• Network and Storage Considerations:

  • Efficient resource usage and cost-effectiveness are a benefit but ensuring data consistency and reducing latency in distributed networks is essential and can be challenging.

  • We're implementing advanced data replication strategies, intelligent strategies, and efficient data transfer protocols to optimize performance.

Join the Vistara Revolution:

As Vistara continues to evolve, it presents a unique opportunity for developers, entrepreneurs, and innovators to be at the forefront of the decentralized revolution. By joining the Vistara community, individuals can:

• Entrepreneurs can turn their ideas into live working prototypes faster than ever before.

• Build and deploy innovative applications without worrying about infrastructure limitations.

• Collaborate with a global community of developers and innovators.

• Share knowledge, resources, and ideas to drive growth and innovation.

• Earn rewards for contributing to the growth of the Vistara ecosystem.

• Experiment with advanced technologies, even without deep technical expertise.

How to Get Started:

1. Explore: start experimenting with our open-source tools.

2. Join our community on discord and telegram with other innovators and get support.

3. Share your plugins, offering feedback, or contributing to our open-source projects.

Conclusion:

By combining AI-driven automation, flexible resource sharing, and a collaborative ecosystem, Vistara presents a unique opportunity to build the next generation of innovative applications. Whether you're a seasoned developer, an ambitious entrepreneur, or simply curious about the future of technology, Vistara offers you the tools and platform to turn your ideas into reality. Are you ready to be a part of the future?