7 minute Read - TL;DR:
iEx.ec will provide on-demand high-performance computing via a distributed cloud infrastructure. Users can rent computing resources (CPU, storage, GPU, etc.) and it will cost a fraction of what it normally would to run on a traditional supercomputer. iEx.ec aims to help DApp providers, big data, and server providers—those that need a lot of computing power.
- iEx.ec offers access to off chain computing resources. (CPU, GPU, Applications, Data-Sets)
- High Performance Computing. (Simulations, 3D Rendering, Medical Research, Analytics, Finance, Scientific Computing, Etc..)
- And RLC is the native token of the iEx.ec cloud platform. In exchange of RLC tokens, users will be able to use the network. Some examples: rent servers, data and applications to execute their distributed applications.
iExec - Distributed HPC on the Blockchain
I know you all want to cut to the juicy stuff , so I'll give it to you upfront and unload the nitty gritty details after. I want everyone to keep in mind that at the moment these two are not in direct competition with eachother. In fact, there are rumors of them even cooperating. However, in the end, they will either compete or cooperate. So I am going to outline why Golem should pray for the latter scenario.
iExec may as well stand for iExec(ute) Golem
Sorry, I know...I know, I had to. But the only reason it is behind in marketcap at the moment is because the first immutable law of marketing, law of leadership - it's sometimes better to be first than it is to be better. The good news here is that if you're a Golem investor, there is still plenty of time to make a swap (although RLC did almost double this week). First and foremost, it is worth pointing out the road map of these two competitors. And yes, they ARE competitors. I for some reason see rumors flying around that they are not. Golem is over 7 months behind on their release, and as an investor, this should haunt you.
That may as well be years in crypto-land. They are over 7 months behind on their base delivery, a release specific toward rendering, their "specialty." Really makes me wonder...What in God's name are they doing with all of their investors money!? The aim of their product development strategy was already way off the mark, in my opinion, but since their specialty is rendering, I guess I can understand why they went for that first. In this business, the company that will win out in the long run is the company that attracts the most business & developers. And perhaps more importantly, the one that provides the cheapest solution. While Golem has been off in La-La Land, iExec has been ahead of their road map. They are scheduled to release their HPC decentralized app store tomorrow, which will help them start attracting both development and business. If you are a developer, you should be extremely interested, as their platform is quite easy to get started on and they have a upcoming competition with a $150,000 prize! These guys are going to blow Golem out of the water, but before I go too much into the details, allow me to explain their edge over SONM.
I'll be upfront with this one. SONM has a killer marketing squad. I'm only left to dream what iExec would be like with their marketing team. While SONM's marketing is on point, their product is mostly vaporware. Any developer given a chance will tell you that. Especially when compared to the code iExec has been cranking out. It all starts to make sense though, when you compare the teams. iExec's team has been living HPC their whole lives. They were dedicated performers before crypto-funding ever came around. So, if your strategy is to buy the best decentralized HPC Cloud Technology a.k.a the "world supercomputer" team & product, here is why iExec will outshine the rest.
Today, there exist very few projects that offer decentralized computing resources through the blockchain. Gridcoin creates a cryptocurrency based on the computations provided to Boinc-based volunteer projects, thus it is mainly limited to altruistic contributions for scientific projects. Golem and iEx.ec share the same vision of a new Internet infrastructure enabled by the blockchain. However, their go-to-market strategies differ. Golem aims at first assembling a virtual “supercomputer” to attract regular HPC users to their platform, while iEx.ec first focuses on supporting DApps to build a distributed Cloud that eventually will be competitive enough to attract Cloud and HPC users. Besides, iEx.ec has the following advantages compared with existing and future challengers:
● Reduced time-to-market as iEx.ec is backed by mature technologies
● Enterprise oriented features
● Proof-of-contribution incentives for network growth and optimal usage of the platform
● Revenue model at each version of the development roadmap
Proof-of-Contribution
Traditional blockchain such as Bitcoin or Ethereum relies on the Proof-of-Work protocol. PoW ensures that token transactions that happen on the blockchain between participants are validated by a large number of nodes using cryptographic challenges. With iEx.ec, a Contribution, i.e. some actions that happen out of the blockchain (like providing a data set, transferring a file, performing a computation, giving a human expertise) will lead to token transactions between participants. That means that a new protocol is needed to prove the fact that contribution actually happened correctly and that the corresponding token transactions can take place in the blockchain. We call this kind of consensus protocol Proof-of-Contribution. There are several similar protocols [Filecoin, Gridcoin, Fatcom], which allow building of a consensus between the blockchain and off-chain resources.
For example, Gridcoin proposed the Proof-of-Research protocol to reward the volunteers who donated part of their computer time to a great scientific computation [BOINC] such as biomedical research (Folding@Home). Proof-of-Contribution is designed to be a more universal framework, allowing to validate a greater number of actions. Special attention must be paid to validation of contributions as some malicious users could fake the contributions to claim illegitimate rewards. To prevent this iEx.ec will rely on a decentralized network of trusted nodes built using a reputation mechanism [Araujo] and Proof-of-Stake [Peercoin] protocol, and
a 14-days transaction backward mutability window [Gridcoin] with contribution certification and spotchecking [Sarmenta] to gradually build this network of trusted nodes.
Applications
There are many commercial and research distributed applications well suited for running on the iEx.ec platform. This offers lower cost AND highly scaleable performance. Here are just a few examples that have been integrated in the PoC platform and that can immediately be used:
● Video transcoding: Ffmpeg, a complete, cross-platform solution to record, convert and stream
audio and video.
● Physics Simulation: Guineapigpp, simulation of beam-beam interactions in high energy e+ecolliders.
● Digital signal processing (DSP): University of Westminster.
● Physics Computation (ISDEP): Fusion, solving the dynamics of fusion plasma.
● Audio Analysis: Dart, a framework for Distributed Audio Analysis and Music Information
Retrieval.
● Optimization Algorithms: BNBSS, different type of deterministic and heuristic optimization
algorithms for solving global optimization problems
The Dream Team
Perhaps the most exciting part of this project. You couldn't ask for more of a Distributed/HPC DREAM TEAM! You can check out their bios at the link provided above.
"iExec will provide a brand new technology based on Blockchain. It will engage more and more users as the network becomes more and more efficient and affordable. Everyone will be able to monetize their unused resources to do some meaningful computing. In the future, iExec will become a main decentralized Global Cloud system." - Prof. Dr. Haiwu HE
“We’re focused on Ethereum right now, but we can move our technology to almost any other blockchain to suit some specific need.” - Wassim Bendella.
Roadmap
Resources:
