An “AWS” for Blockchain, part 1/3
1. The Friend Network
2. The Friend Store
3. The Digital Ecosystem
At the same time as the Friend Unifying Platform is hitting the scene, we are starting to see a shift in networking technology taking place. There is a general transition away from siloed, proprietary and centralized systems infrastructure. It is a paradigm shift. And the whole world is in turmoil over it. People are scratching their heads. Some people are cheering. People are discussing the phenomenon at places like Berkley, California. In Berlin. In Tallin. In Dubai or Singapore. It is a world-wide event.
FriendUP is about to raise the bar, because it amplifies what is already underway in more ways than one. It is much more than a protocol — more than a single increment. It is an operating system, network, resource pool and marketplace, all-in-one. Built for decentralization. And when it is in operation, it elevates the baseline of internet functionality for everyone. Yet another piece in the decentralized puzzle is being laid on the table. The picture is becoming clearer. I think we are getting a glimpse of the future of the internet right about now.
Friend has been designed to give people their own virtual Cloud Computers. These are general purpose machines, powered by up to millions of servers, to give users a great computing experience entirely on the decentralized network. They are not beholden to any corporation. They are not held back by proprietary firmware. They are not limited by a corporate license agreement. They are free and open source, available on and from any device, on demand.
In many ways, we can say we are returning to a time where users had a stronger impact on the computing platforms. This gives more room for collaboration and community. It can spur a lot of positive thinking, something that’s desperately needed in the paranoid world of IT today.
Decentralized Infrastructure
Friend consists of a network of servers and clients (most of the time running in a web browser). The server side of things provide you with storage space, computing power, redundancy and services — which is “consumed” by the clients. Whilst FriendUP gives you a virtual Cloud Computer, the Friend Network of servers also gives you a virtual data center with nearly unlimited resources at your fingertips.
This virtual data center can be used for anything. For example, to run a web site. Or to offer a server backed API. Or to boost your own multiplayer game server network.
In the conventional world, Amazon Web Services(AWS) may not fully equate with the Friend Network(FN) in every aspect. It is utterly huge, well established, and we are just getting started. Still, the comparison makes sense for a number of reasons. FN has generic infrastructure on offer — decentralized and implemented using Blockchain technologies — but the infrastructure is analogous to AWS. It can be used to achieve the same things.
Amazon offers flexible infrastructure based on configurable virtual machines. You spin up your environment, install and configure any kind of software and then scale once an instance maxes out due to heavy load. The services are relatively cheap, and the costs increase fairly as you need more horsepower.
AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and others are all wonderful feats of engineering. Problem is, they are centralized. They are owned by a giants growing ever larger, and as we have seen with several other Silicon Valley companies, these become politicized over time. You are never sure about where they will go after the next quarter. They may start sharing data with national intelligence agencies. They may suddenly start censoring, as a result of a law suit. They are far from neutral players. And by the end of the day, their decision making process are far removed from the people who those policies may concern. The users. And in these time of rapid disruptions, not only in technology, but in policy, users who just want to deploy and utilize tech may have their concerns.
The Friend Network will be able to offer much of what AWS do, but in a decentralized way. As a hub for other Blockchain projects, you will be able to find all the technologies in one place; databases, storage space, data services, compute power, monitoring and administration. The services will be based on shared resources and technology that is owned by the users. This is what people want. The faith in the global hegemonic technology powerhouses is failing. And we are offering an agnostic — non political infrastructure, albeit on philosophical foundations (see our five pillars).
Friend is being decentralized by anchoring the user account using Distributed Ledger Technology. All you need to do is get a Friend account, configure your project, package it and then install it into the Friend Network. After this, your software will propagate throughout the internet and start interacting with users everywhere.
We need decentralized infrastructure and services to make the internet more robust. By now, a world without the internet is almost unimaginable. But if the foundations of our digital lives are all centralized, within the realm of a few globalized companies, a time may soon come where global disruptions of certain types of services could come to pass.
Imagine the impact a loss of YouTube would have on the world. Or indeed Facebook. Such a loss could seriously harm many users and strip them of their social networks and even libraries of knowledge. In many ways, it is scary that a few monoliths have been able to attain the central positions they play in our lives at all. Some of us are a bit anxious that this may erode the democratic structures that have enabled such an inclusive world until now.
With the Friend Network, we will technologically enable developers to build dynamic and wholly capable systems, and network them together — eventually replacing or complementing the monoliths with decentralized, stable and user-owned alternatives. And the projects that provide us with the building blocks already exist — in their youthful forms, like Steemit, DTube, Storj, IPFS, Fluence and Golem. The Friend Network will create a runway for all of these projects, and amplify their reach with developers, users and to achieve full cross-pollination.
By using your Friend account, you will be able to assemble decentralized and scalable cloud infrastructure on which you will be able launch and deploy your apps and solutions. Here, you can see how Friend can truly be called an “AWS for Blockchain” and an enabler of the decentralized computing paradigm of the near future.
