Over the last few months we spoke a great deal about the quest to get data out from the hands of Big Tech. This is, naturally, a very difficult process since they have the infrastructure along with the applications that most utilize.
When it comes to the battle with Web 2.0, we are seeing Web 3.0 trailing by a country mile.
Of course, it is still early in the game. infrastructure is under development. Sadly, this often takes longer than planned. It certainly was the case with SpkNetwork, which started their development over 3 years ago.
Nevertheless, after a recent AMA, it appears things are moving closer to being fully live.
In this article we will not go through all of the details. For those interested, here is the White Paper put together by the team behind this initiative.
Instead, we will frame what is taking place with some of the other topics we covered. The key is we are looking at decentralization. This will aid in the effort to pull a bit more away from Big Tech.
The design of the Internet today utilizes the client=server architecture. Basically a company sets up a server (system) and a front end. The two are tied together and owned by the same entities.
When you utilize an application, you are accessing the companies database(s). All the data is resident on servers they control. There are many instances where the servers owners are actually Amazon or Microsoft. They are two of the leading cloud companies along with Google and Apple.
Other entities rent space from these technology giants. Hence there are basically two companies that control the data. The key is that individuals are nowhere in this equation.
In the digital era, especially with different forms of AI emerging, this is a death roll for humanity and its freedom. Web 2.0 was a major boom for the world. However, it benefitted a few major corporations. The financial benefits are fed to them.
Decentralized cloud helps to alleviate this. Here we see the client-server architecture destroyed. SpkNetwork designed a protocol that allows for the remove of a traditional server configuration, instead opting for a distributed system.
In these articles, we discuss the important of using a decentralized database. Since we talk about blockchain, most often Hive, we are normally focusing upon text.
Hive is an immutable database of text data that is distributed among many servers that are not under the control of any individual entity. The software is open source meaning anyone can run it.
This is exactly what is needed.
It is, however, limited. Text can offer a lot but it is dwindling in terms of importance. When it comes to the different media types, the others are starting to grow in importance.
We all see the explosion of memes (images). Video has skyrocketed as technology allows for easier creation and distribution. No longer are we dealing with dial-up or cheap plastic external webcams.
All of this leads to the need for a similar design as Hive, but for other media types. This is exactly what SpkNetwork is looking to provide.
The quick summary of this network is that it incentivizes decentralized storage. Individuals can offer up hard drive space on their computers, or opt for a server, to join the network. Through the protocol designed, individuals are able to prove the files they are storing, earning themselves a reward.
Essentially it is bringing the ability to provide infrastructure to the masses. Distributed anything in the digital world requires infrastructure. This means computers (nodes) have to join he network.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the largest cloud company. Of course, this did not start out at the size it is today. At some point, the first two servers were connected.
Over time, as demand increased, more servers were added. The data centers of today are simply enormous. It is to the point where Meta positioned one right next to a nuclear power plant.
Network efficiency grows as it expands. The more activity tied to a network means the effects are compounded. The hardest point is starting out.
Naturally, there are many feeder systems.
Individuals can join in with their hardware to offer up the storage capacity. Then we have applications that can utilize the network to feed the storage. Users are able to upload images, videos, or whatever other documents.
All of this feeds into the economy.
One feature that is important to highlight is the fact we have an economy based upon compute. In this instance it is storage.
From the white paper:
Each BROCA token allows for 1KB of backup storage across three separate storage nodes for a period of 30 days. Storage contracts can be extended proportionally by sending more BROCA, which adjusts the contract's duration. If additional backup storage is required, users can pay extra, for example, adding 1/3 more BROCA to incentivize a fourth storage node to store their contract.
BROCA is nothing more than a unit of measure of compute. This should change over time as the inherent nature of digital technology, i.e. deflationary, takes over. Storage, like most other forms of compute, gets less expensive on a cost/performance basis.
For example, there was a time when an 8MB USB stick was $80. Today, you can get a couple TB external hard drive for the same money. In 5 years, who know what this will be.
As an aside, this is why the cloud business was a money printer. Over time, the cost of the network decreased in terms of capacity. Even if nothing else changes, the ability to operate storage was more cost effective.
On Hive, there are a couple image servers that I am aware of.
The ones behind it are responsible for footing the bill. This is an out-of-pocket expense. With SpkNetwork, the situation can change.
This storage becomes distributed along with being incentivized. Hence, images uploaded can be handle by different nodes. Those who are storing the files can be rewarded.
What this means is applications can get involved in a manner that was not possible before. If their community is active, it will be easy to cover the cost of the server. The system will compensate these applications for their storage node.
On top of this, they are not limited to what comes from their application. They can host any files. It is similar to Hive with people opening up a extra Witness nodes. It is a redundancy of the data storage from the blockchain.
This is distributed computing at its finest.
