Templatized Cardano Node Hosted on Decentralized Compute Infrastructure

[GENERAL] Name and Surname of Main Applicant

Tom Flynn

[GENERAL] Email address of Main Applicant

tom@spheron.network

Additional Applicants

prashant@spheron.network

mitrasish@spheron.network

justin@spheron.network

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

2

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language.

No

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

No

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.” in this field.

No dependencies.

[GENERAL] Will your project outputs be fully Open Source?

No

[GENERAL] If NO, please describe which outputs are not going to be open source. If YES, please write “Project will be fully open source.” in this field.

Spheron is a middle layer between a web interface and decentralized infrastructure. While the decentralized infra provided through our services (IPFS, Filecoin, Akash, Arweave, nodes, et al) are opensource projects how Spheron streamlines the deployment of dapps and infra ('deploy your dapp in 3 clicks') by abstracting away complexity of having to navigate multiple ecosystems, bridges, tokens, and languages is not opensource.

[METADATA] Category of Proposal

SPOs

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

Templatized Cardano Nodes on Spheron address various ecosystem challenges for Cardano.

1. Ease of spinning up and maintaining Cardano node infrastructure
2. Disintermediation of centralized hosting providers like AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud and risks that come with using these providers
3. Cost optimization of cloud compute services

Ease of spinning up and maintaining Cardano node infrastructure

Spheron is working to bring to Web3 what AWS has brought to Web2; a one-stop-shop for Web3 infrastructure needs. The Spheron stack includes support for decentralized hosting and storage across IPFS, Filecoin, and Arweave, decentralized compute services using Akash decentralised compute marketplace, private IPFS gateways for faster caching and low latency, CDN, and AI support at the command line to write, debug, and transpile code using SpheronGPT. We continue to add new features to the stack as Web3 infrastructure matures.

As a middle layer designed to abstract away complexity, Spheron’s goal is to dramatically reduce your time managing infrastructure so you can spend that time developing your product. Spheron’s slogan is ‘deploy your dApp in 3 clicks’ because you can login using the repository of your choice, select your protocol, and click ‘deploy.’ Following your dApp deployment on IPFS, Filecoin, or Arweave our automation feature will push changes to your dApp directly from your Git commits without having to go back into Spheron.

Spheron abstracts away the multiple wallets, bridges, codebases, and ecosystems developers typically have to jump through to deploy on decentralized infrastructure. Our intent is to do the same for the Cardano Node.

In addition, Spheron is working on a compute autoscaling solution with Akash networks to automatically scale compute infrastructure based on the needs of the node or other infrastructure. Spheron has SLAs in place with all high performing providers on the Akash networks, ensuring highest availability at nominal costs.

With our fiat integration, users have the ability to pay with the choice of tokens, stables and fiat via credit card/debit card. Users may choose to login to Spheron with Git repositories or wallet login ( coming soon)

Disintermediation of centralized hosting providers like AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud and risks that come with using these providers

“A single glitch in a high-profile provider will have huge implications on countless organizations of all sizes, in often very unexpected ways. Service interruptions are vast and impact thousands of companies and millions of users. We are putting more eggs into fewer and fewer baskets. More eggs get broken that way.”

• Ed Skoudis, president of the SANS Technology Institute

“Amazon’s massive cloud-computing operation Wednesday suffered its third outage in a month, briefly shutting down a vast number of online services critical to everyday life and highlighting again the vulnerabilities of an increasingly interconnected Web.”

• The Washington Post

“AWS hacking victims endured inconvenient and drawn-out response and support processes. AWS eventually agreed to waive one massive bill as a “one off exception,” and another customer is still awaiting a resolution after nearly two weeks after reporting the charges.”

• Forbes

“Clients and end users are essentially powerless to prevent cloud outages. They can mitigate the problem by stretching their architecture across multiple geographic regions or using multiple providers—though it comes with increased cost and effort. This may be a non-starter for many AWS clients already facing expenses from lock in and runaway costs.”

• Forbes

“Outages, well-devised lock in, vulnerable cybersecurity, and escalating costs are among the problems that come with overreliance on the world’s largest cloud provider.”

• Forbes

The risks of using centralized storage are well documented (see the following links) and one of the core tenets of web3 is to disintermediate the institutions that can bring censorship, breaches, and loss of your digital property. According to Gartner, AWS is the world’s largest provider of cloud-computing services, with 40 percent of the worldwide market for infrastructure cloud services. And in the case where one chooses to spread their infra across different centralized providers, even moving between these behemoths is a challenge, because each system works differently and relies on its own infrastructure.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) Data Breaches: Full Timeline Through 2023 

Amazon Web Services’ third outage in a month exposes a weak point in the Internet’s backbone 

Crypto Hacking And Power Outages: Buyers Beware On AWS Cloud 

Dead Roombas, stranded packages and delayed exams: How the AWS outage wreaked havoc across the U.S. 

Amazon Web Services outage hobbles businesses

Hosting your digital assets and nodes on decentralized infrastructure makes the Cardano ecosystem even more decentralized and robust, while supporting the mission of web3 and providing higher levels of security and access to your users. For those projects hosting nodes on AWS, Spheron’s decentralized compute offering undercuts the cost of AWS deployment considerably.

Cost optimization of cloud compute services

Working with Akash Network’s Compute Marketplace, Spheron brings streamlined quick and easy access to decentralised compute that is just as performant or more so than AWS at a much lower cost. Users can also choose to benefit from Spheron’s decentralized hosting and storage services all from within the same GUI or CLI, each service just as performant and at a fraction of the cost of AWS.

[IMPACT] How does your proposed solution address the challenge and what benefits will this bring to the Cardano ecosystem?

As the market for decentralized infrastructure continues to grow, new entrants into the industry will be looking for avenues to engage with blockchain ecosystems with minimal business friction to slow their progress. 

Hosting a templatized Cardano Node in Spheron’s stack will provide access to new entrants who are interested in funding their projects with ISPOs and delegation that might otherwise not become aware of the passion and opportunity engaging with the Cardano Community will bring to their business. In a multichain future new entrants will be looking for ways to tap into the benefits of multiple ecosystems and streamlining their effort to get involved is essential to prevent them from choosing other alternatives just because they might be easier at the start.

In addition, as the Spheron Team are web3 native and committed to the philosophy of web3 turnaround time for support from Spheron is dramatically faster than what you will see from AWS. We see our ecosystem partners as allies in the mission to take back control of the world’s financial and business infrastructure.

[IMPACT] How do you intend to measure the success of your project?

• Reduce Node deployment time to under an hour
• Compute API for easier integration 
• Cost optimization by up-to 50% compared to legacy cloud providers; pay with token or fiat

[IMPACT] Please describe your plans to share the outputs and results of your project?

Access to Cardano nodes on the decentralized compute marketplace will be available to the public as soon as the project is completed. These will be as performant as nodes hosted on AWS but at a much cheaper price compared to centralized hosting providers. Cardano nodes will be included in Spheron's marketing activities which extend to other ecosystems and chains as Spheron's services are blockchain agnostic.

Spheron will continue to find ways to support the Cardano Community after launch, including, but not limited to the following:

• Keeping the node infrastructure up to date and notifying users of changes to the node
• Participating in the ecosystem and supporting Cardano projects as a true community member
• Participating in Cardano Community events and hackathons
• Bringing awareness to Cardano with our partners and with the rest of our professional network
• Evaluating Cardano infrastructure to add to the Spheron tech stack
• Support for Cardano projects that use Spheron's decentralized hosting, storage, and compute services
• Working with the Cardano Foundation and Cardano projects to incentivize activity on the Cardano blockchain

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability?

Spheron has templatized the following nodes on our platform and make them available to our users through our compute marketplace to spin up with a few clicks.

Some testimonials from Spheron's customers:

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What are the main goals for the project and how will you validate if your approach is feasible?

All goals are easily quantifiable and will be proved out during testing.

• Reduce Node deployment time to under an hour
• Compute API for easier integration 
• Cost optimization by up-to 50% compared to legacy cloud providers; pay with token or fiat

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed breakdown of your project’s milestones and each of the main tasks or activities to reach the milestone plus the expected timeline for the delivery.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please describe the deliverables, outputs and intended outcomes of each milestone.

Phase 1: Workflow designs, architecture design, UI development on testnet environment

Phase 2: Complete closed loop testing with select Cardano projects on test environment

Phase 3: Public launch/production rollout, service support on discord - dedicated team

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

Phase 1: $15,000 Review of documentation, workflow designs, architecture design, UI development on testnet environment

Phase 2: $10,000 Closed loop testing with select Cardano projects on test environment, service support and maintenance of infrastructure

Phase 3: $10,000 Public launch/production rollout, monitor system stability, optimal performance of compute, service support on discord - dedicated team

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

When interviewed stakeholders from across the Cardano Ecosystem listed easy set up of nodes as the number one infrastructure need for Cardano. Time and money will be saved on setting up and managing Cardano nodes across the ecosystem. Hosting on Spheron's decentralized compute architecture costs far less than hosting on AWS or similar legacy services. The time saved in deploying node infrastructure will be clear for projects that uses Spheron.

“I set up an SPO, that was about four 16 hour days of technical effort just to get it up and running.” - Cardano Community Member

Projects that use Spheron's services have reported being able to reduce their DevOps down from 3 roles to one due to the simplicity and automation that Spheron provides. With DevOps professionals ranging from 180k to 250k in the U.S. we reduce the amount of time these important contributors spend on maintaining infrastructure and give you that time back to building your product.

The amount of funds requested for the project are a tiny fraction of the cost savings that will be passed on to every project that uses this service over the lifetime of the templatized node.

[IMPORTANT NOTE] The Applicant agreed to Fund10 rules and also that data in the Submission Form and other data provided by the project team during the course of the project will be publicly available.

I Accept