What Is a Decentralized Data Storage Network?

The concept of adding decentralization to data storage is perhaps the next big need of the century. It is indeed a fascinating area, one that will eventually become a key element in our day-to-day lives. Unfortunately, the current terrain remains dominated by centralized bodies, including Google Drive, AWS, etc. Modern computing is gated (not in terms of security) — in terms of being control by a single entity.

Of course, it is hard to realize the risks behind centralized computing immediately. Think about it this way — Amazon’s AWS is one of the most used centralized data storage services, with one single center or provider. Imagine the chaos if one day, the AWS malfunctions, shutdowns, or gets interrupted. Hundreds of millions of data storage operations halted!

History Speaks for Itself

Unfortunately, this nightmare once did become a reality, when in 2017, Amazon AWS went dark — deemed as one of the biggest cloud outages of the century. And it happened again, with Microsoft’s weeks-long cloud storage issues, then Github went down, affecting hundreds and thousands of software developers in its wake!

Besides, the content that we store or host on these platforms is far from effective, it’s clunky with broken links (that seem to break a little too often). All these failures over the years have caused extreme implications for systems as we continue to increase our dependence on them.

Of course, one can find counterarguments and say — if these centralized services are so successful, they must be effective! Not really; there is one single reason behind their success — the infrastructure of a centralized cloud storage platform is way easier to build. A network that does not have a center; is intricate and complex yet operationally simple and effective — that is decentralization, the new order that is imperative for a distributed web.

What is Decentralized Storage?

In brevity, decentralized storage is an inherent change where the platform’s control shifts from one single authority to a community.

Unlike centralized services, the responsibility of maintaining the network in a decentralized storage network doesn’t fall with one single provider. Instead, it is distributed among independent node operators, leaving behind zero single-points-of-failure!

But that is just one of the many benefits of a decentralized storage network.

Here are more desirable -

Benefits of a Decentralized Storage Network

• Extremely Effective –

Imagine a viral video that is being played by hundreds of users at the same time. The devices of each of these viewers is requesting this content from one single server (centralized platforms). As such a high demand hits a single server, we are bound to experience latency and server failures.

However, on a decentralized network, there is no need for requests to travel to one single server or even bounce all over the web. Here, the nodes closest to the request will establish the connection for that video to be played for you. In addition, the ability to localize services and resources offered by the nodes makes a decentralized network highly effective at all times.

These networks can avoid dry data centers as the node remains close to the users — this is what we called Peer-2-Peer sharing of storage and retrieval resources.

• Natural Risk Mitigation and Resilience -

The present internet is extremely fragile, as your content is stacked behind URL addresses, which adds a specific server to it at all times. If the internet provider or the server fails, your content becomes inaccessible to you for any reason whatsoever!

Centralization is the only evil behind this haunting of the internet.

For an ideal decentralized storage network, the loss of one storage resource provider will never affect the content or will never block user access. Instead, the work of maintaining the network and providing storage resources is spread across hundreds of nodes. This means that the network and its service become inherently resistant to failure, censorship, or any risk of ineffective service.

• Highly Accessible –

Decentralization brings accessibility to all participants on the network. Accessibility is easy, efficient and seamless, allowing as many storage nodes as possible to distribute storage resources on the network. However, the current decentralized platforms offer a higher resistance for participants to become nodes. Hardware requirements and high thresholds make it extremely harder for nodes to join the network and offer their services.

Calculus remedies that by lowering the threshold, facilitate the landing of both cold and hot storage — thus making it easier for the nodes to join the ecosystem, offer their resources and get rewarded for it too.

• Immutability –

The ability to supply and manage storage via APIs makes a decentralized network extremely cost-effective and reliable.

• Data Addressing –

Content stored on a centralized platform is addressed by URLs, which depict the content’s location rather than the content itself. This makes it harder for the user to find specific data or content.

Suppose, you are looking for a picture of a delicious Chocolate brownie.

Consider that you came across these two URL results –

https://Image1.com/brownie.png

https://Image2.com/brownie.png

Both of these URLs characterize the file called brownie.png. However, you don’t have a guarantee that these two files hold the same content. Suppose if image one is taken down or it goes offline, you don’t know if Image 2 is what you’ve been looking for — its brownie.png could contain something entirely different. It might even contain an image of ramen noodles; who knows!

Do you see the problem here? There simply is no relationship between the content itself and its URL!

This also means you have absolutely no way of going on to the web and ask if somebody has “this” file because you don’t know anything about the file’s content except its location!

Even if you go ahead and share the URL address of “this” file, there are so many things that can go wrong. For example, the centralized server can offer a wrong file; a malicious entity might perform a man-in-the-middle attack and change the content of the file entirely. So many inefficiencies, right?

CIDs, a.k.a content identifiers — offer a solution to this problem. Decentralized networks such as Calculus employ content addressing via the CIDs, thus giving each piece of data a special identifier, if you may call it — its own fingerprint.

So as a Calculus user, when you need a specific file, instead of asking the server for a URL, you ask the nodes on the network for a file associated with a specific CID. Then you can go ahead and add the fingerprint to the file.

This poses another question — adding CIDs and content addressing — is it for the tech-savvy? What if I am a new user, know very little about this operation?

Calculus solves that problem as well for you — by automating the process. The network via the pledge mechanism ensures that the node is offering you the right content and effective data. It’s a guarantee, which, when not fulfilled, punishes the node.

• Verifiable Storage & Trustless -

Decentralized storage networks such as Calculus ensure efficiency by constantly checking and proving that the nodes are storing the originally promised data. This process is automated and intelligent thanks to our implementation of TEE or Trusted Execution Environment. The constant auditing of the nodes ensures a trustless ecosystem.

• Community Governance –

Community autonomy, building consensus and high-quality community governance mechanisms can gather internal forces, promote self-development, and attract external support. The most essential technical, economic and governance-related parameters, rates and pricing intervals of Calculus shall be decided by online all-node voting. Truly, the platform is maintained by the common knowledge and excellent decision-making skills of nodes.

The Dawn of a New Age — Calculus!

Take a leap of faith with Calculus as we are about to remedy the loopholes of data storage practices. We aim to expand across many verticals and stand at the frontier, decentralization the only tool we need!