September 2017
September has been a defining month for us at SONM. For some time now, we have been searching for the right individuals to join the team, and this month we finally found them. These new additions have helped us implement an agile framework for development. This agile approach will enable a flexible approach to development by our team members.
Our CEO, Sergey Ponomarev, sums up the month like this:
We finally rounded out the team with high-level developers, and have chosen the agile software development methodology, to achieve complete transparency and phenomenal performance. The four teams — Core, Smart-contracts, Wallet and Integration departments — have produced their first results since the transition to Agile.
We have continued to attract significant attention from the international press, and SONM ICO was mentioned by The Merkle as one of the most promising blockchain start-ups of 2017.
Development report
Over the course of this month, the development team has been able to fully conceptualize, and begin to develop, several of the most important features of the SONM platform. To this end, they have submitted a sequence diagram.
A sequence diagram shows interactions between platform components and is arranged as a sequence of events. The SONM sequence diagram specifies the elements involved in the platform’s functioning and the sequence of messages that must be exchanged for the intended functionality to be carried out.
In the SONM sequence diagram, it is possible to see everything that occurs “behind the scenes” between the buyer of computing power and the supplier. Every single process from the “HUB start” until the “End of Contract” is visible. On this diagram, you can follow the lines to see where the different components get integrated into the sequence.
Sequence diagrams help development teams to validate platform architectures, and to specify component interfaces. In general, these diagrams make development more straightforward and predictable, and the SONM sequence diagram should keep things going smoothly.
We made headway on a few different projects this month:
The SNM wallet prototype: An application referred to as a “thick client,” the SNM wallet will allow users to manage their SNM tokens, register on the SONM platform, and participate in all SONM interactions. The wallet is being built using electron.atom.io and the w3.js library. The wallet prototype is expected to be released in October.
Consul, a distributed database which helps to find consensus: Consul will be used to build a failover cluster of nodes for Hub, so task scheduling doesn’t halt when one node is down. Consul implements a database with distributed online consensus, based on Raft protocol. If any of nodes in Hub goes down, others will elect a new leader and continue working without denying service. Other nodes can access any Hub node, and all requests will be processed by current Hub leader ensuring online scheduling consistency.
A BID/ASK matching service: SONM will offer a service that allows people to publish resources as BID/ASK orders, and to receive matching orders as deal candidates. The deal, however, will still be contracted directly between Buyer and Hub.
OpenCL: Currently, SONM uses Docker containers to execute tasks. However, docker doesn’t support OpenCL GPU cards right out-of-the-box. This type of GPU represents a significant share of the market, and SONM is keen to take advantage of it. That’s why the SONM team has developed support for OpenCL GPU cards using docker containers.
The APIs to be used by the SONM CLI, the SONM Wallet, and other external applications to manage the SONM node and to invoke SONM functions has been described and specified in the following documents: API specification and Bid/Ask specification.
New Team Additions
Several high-level specialists have joined the SONM development team.
First and foremost, we have a new CTO, Igor Lebedev. While he did in fact join the team back in July, we’re happy we can finally introduce him here!
Lebedev is a specialist in computer science with 15 years of IT experience, including seven years developing software for enterprises. He is an expert in system architectures for OLTP, MDM, DWH, OLAP, and BI system classes, databases, automated trading systems, and microelectronics. He has also finished several projects in Prognoz and EPAM.
Our new head of research is Eugene Manaev, a veteran of the software development industry, with 20 years of experience including seven years at Luxoft. He’s expert in system and business analytics, product management, and open source applications. Eugene has built several startup projects from the ground up as a system architect and product manager.
Dmitry Pisanko joins us as head of wallet development. His development experience dates back to 2004. At Splyt.com, he developed a universal roaming system for taxis.
Next, Dmitry Ivanov has accepted the position of Solidity programmer. His knowledge-base includes C, C++, Solidity, Python, Go, and JavaScript, and he has a background in computer and OS structure. He previously worked at Yandex — Russia’s most popular search engine — in the machine learning department.
Sergey Utkin also came on board this month as a senior frontend developer. He worked at the London Stock Exchange Group, where he developed interfaces specifically for exchanges. Additionally, he developed instruments for testing trading systems.
Other company updates
Throughout September, the international press has continued to recognize SONM for its innovative potential. As we continue to grow our focus as shifted towards becoming more open, transparent and community orientated. This has been expressed during our events in September and our upcoming conferences in Barcelona and Santa Clara.
Binance listed the SNM token as September’s coin of the month. Binance is one of the top cryptocurrency exchanges in terms of 24-hour trading volume. We’re incredibly grateful for the support from SONM community. The fact that top exchanges are getting behind us is a great sign: investors are interested in our token, and we can expect great things to come.
We have scheduled numerous events heading into 2018 to directly engage with our community, from developers to key stakeholders. The first event on our circuit is the hugely anticipated Blockchain Solution Forum in Barcelona. Kicking off with Ilia Frankstein’s pitch with a deep insight into the technology behind SONM. Ilia Frankstein joined the SONM advisory board earlier this month. He will advise on IT technology and best practices for SDLC, business strategy and corporate governance and facilitates communication with the investment community.
We are expressing our gratitude for the success on your Binance votes by giving away 30 premium tickets to the upcoming Blockchain Solution Forum! Email info@sonm.io with subject line Bareclona stating why you would like to attend.
If you are a lucky winner, don’t forget to register at the conference website. We are thrilled to meet you there!
Once you are in come and see us at stand 310! We are organising three community meet ups with CTO Igor Lebedev! This is our schedule:
October, 3: 11:00–13:30
October, 4: 13:00–15:00
October, 5: 13:00–15:00
Finally, we have some exciting news regarding the business development field. At the end of September Selectel — Russia’s biggest hosting and cloud services provider — and SONM has struck a partnership. The companies are going to cooperate in creating IT-infrastructure blockchain-based solutions for businesses. This is the first such initiative within the Russian IaaS market which is likely to bring some very positive results.
Join the SONM Team
SONM is rapidly expanding its presence on the market. The company is building a strong team of high-level professionals who will bring SONM to the world stage. We are searching for individuals who strive to solve a global issue: creating a multipurpose decentralized computational power market.
To learn more about the open positions and to apply, kindly visit https://sonm.io/jobs/
