Open-Source Project Skeet Launches India's Only Solana Blockchain Data Center
Open-Source Project Skeet Launches India's Only Solana Blockchain Data Center
ELSOUL LABO B.V. (Headquarters: Amsterdam, Netherlands, CEO: Fumitake Kawasaki),
together with Epics DAO, which it established to operate a Web3 NFT card game
supporting open-source software development, is driving innovation and
sustainable development in blockchain technology through the development and
operation of 'solv', an open-source tool for Solana blockchain validators. This
tool has proven its performance and reliability over approximately one year of
operation and is now extensively used by many users on both the mainnet and
testnet of the Solana blockchain.
Similarly, the Skeet development team, also established by ELSOUL LABO, has been
leveraging its software development expertise for validator operations, aiming
to enhance the sustainability of open-source development by allocating rewards
to cover necessary costs and utilizing 'solv' in operating Solana blockchain
validators.
We are pleased to announce the establishment of the only Solana blockchain data
center in India by the Skeet development team.
The Decision to Establish India’s Only Solana Data Center and the Inside Story of Skeet Development
Currently, there are about 1,700 Solana mainnet validators operating worldwide,
distributed across 317 mainnet data centers.
However, as of May 2024, there were no Solana data centers in India.
Looking at the global distribution of Solana data centers, many are concentrated
in the USA and Europe, while Asia, Oceania, South America, and Africa still have
far fewer data centers.
One reason for this is server costs. Large data centers incur significant
cooling costs. Additionally, the maintenance expenses of data centers are
heavily influenced by the location's environmental conditions, making operations
in regions with harsh climates like India difficult and costly.
These server costs directly impact validator operational profits, creating a
barrier to entry. This trend is pronounced; the higher the server costs, the
fewer the validators in that region.
Furthermore, launching and maintaining validators is costly. Especially in
regions with few validators, preparing the right machine specs and managing
operations becomes more complex, and initial setups are particularly
challenging.
At one point, the few Solana validators operating in India withdrew due to these
high costs.
For the Solana network, and indeed for the proliferation and development of
blockchain technology, it's crucial to distribute data centers globally.
Users in regions without nearby validator nodes experience degraded network
performance, which stifles development and results in lost opportunities for
innovation.
In 2018, the founding members of ELSOUL LABO set up an offshore app development
company in India, working on numerous projects alongside many Indian IT
professionals.
India boasts a vast number of IT technicians and numerous development projects.
The fluidity of developers, who typically move from project to project, is high.
Therefore, Indian IT technicians are very proactive about new technologies and
eager to learn.
However, unifying team perceptions and development methods was challenging.
We relied heavily on open-source application frameworks to standardize
development methods and deeply appreciated their value.
However, organizations using application frameworks faced several challenges,
especially in deployment.
Issues that worked in the development environment but failed in production and
errors due to differences in environment among team members degraded development
efficiency. Ultimately, difficulty in unifying development led us to withdraw,
which was regrettable.
This was not a flaw in the application frameworks themselves but an inherent
difficulty in deploying applications.
We felt the need to integrate a robust (environmentally stable without
unexpected errors) environment into the framework entirely, which led us to
start researching serverless frameworks immediately after withdrawing.
Our third open-source serverless framework, Skeet, was presented at the
international conference ENASE 2024 and received high acclaim from many
participants.
To give back to India, where we made this significant discovery, we decided to
establish the only Solana data center in the country.
This will contribute to the proliferation and development of the Solana network
in India, providing many Indian IT technicians with opportunities to tackle new
innovations where we see significant potential and value.
In fact, when we began our business in India in 2018, QR payment systems like
Paytm were already widespread, enabling transactions at street vendors and food
stalls. PayPay, which has become commonplace in Japan today, was launched in
October 2018 and developed based on Paytm's technology, showcasing the rapid
pace of technological adoption and innovation in India.
We look forward to numerous blockchain-based innovations emerging in India in
the future.
Solana Mainnet Data Center (India, Mumbai):
https://www.validators.app/data-centers/396982-IN-Mumbai?locale=en&network=mainnet
Skeet has set a 0% fee for users who stake SOL, with an annual percentage rate
(APR) of rewards at 7.58%.
To facilitate the participation of subsequent validators in regions with very
few Solana validators and to aim for high validator scores, we use high-spec
machine resources of 112 vCPUs + 896 GB RAM and have established a robust
operating system.
Even if there is a problem with the hardware, we can quickly and easily relocate
using the open-source 'solv'. The status of this new data center in Mumbai,
India, is constantly monitored by ELSOUL LABO, ensuring rapid fixing in any
emergency.
We would be very pleased if you continue to support our activities.
Skeet - Solana Mainnet Validator:
https://www.validators.app/validators/LionBN8UQ69Amea77CurDSCnRDVGTMND9oyv74ZteE2?locale=en&network=mainnet
ELSOUL LABO and Epics DAO
ELSOUL LABO and Epics DAO's core teams are actively involved in open-source
software development.
They operate two open-source software projects, "solv" and "Skeet."
"solv" is an open-source tool simplifying the setup and operation of Solana
validators and RPC nodes. To earn rewards as a blockchain validator, machine
resources of proper specifications are needed, and validator software
installation and setup should be completed per documentation, followed by
several updates each week.
With "solv," Solana validators can be easily launched with just three commands.
Updates require only one command, utilizing the open-source nature so that a
single person worldwide can manage the update, and others can download it. solv
documentation: https://solv.epics.dev/
"Skeet" is an open-source, serverless app development tool using TypeScript,
offering a modern application framework for infrastructure management, rapid app
development, AI support, and dApp/Web3 development.
Skeet documentation: https://skeet.dev/
The Skeet development team's paper, "Skeet: Towards a Lightweight Serverless
Framework Supporting Modern AI-Driven App Development," was presented at ENASE
2024, an international software engineering conference held in Angers, France,
on April 28-29, 2024. Dr. James represented the team and received high acclaim
for his presentation.
ENASE 2024: https://enase.scitevents.org/
This study proposes a lightweight serverless framework for modern AI-driven
application development. The research was published in the conference
proceedings and indexed in Google Scholar, Scopus, and other major databases,
making it widely accessible to the research community.
「Skeet: Towards a Lightweight Serverless Framework Supporting Modern AI-Driven
App Development」 - SciTePress:
https://www.scitepress.org/PublicationsDetail.aspx?ID=Rza3TGE30Xw=&t=1
We will continue promoting innovation, engaging in open-source software
development, and supporting the overall development environment of open-source
projects.
Company Overview
- Name: ELSOUL LABO B.V.
- CEOs: Fumitake Kawasaki, Shota Kishi
- Business: Software research and development (AI, cloud, blockchain)
- Founded: September 2020
- Location: Weteringschans 165, 1017XD Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Accreditations: WBSO (Advanced R&D) from the Dutch government, Google Cloud Build partner, ENASE2024 paper selection
- URL: https://labo.elsoul.nl
- Discord: https://discord.gg/H2HeqRq54J
- Press Kit: https://labo.elsoul.nl/en/press-kits
DAO Overview
- DAO Name: Epics DAO
- Founders: Fumitake Kawasaki, Shota Kishi
- Business: Research, development, and operation of blockchain games for social impact
- Founded: June 2022
- Award: 5th place, Solana Summer Camp Hackathon 2022
- URL: https://epics.dev
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/EpicsDAO2
- Discord: https://discord.gg/GmHYfyRamx
※ This article is not intended for investment advice. The information contained
in this article is based on the situation at the time of writing. Please check
for the most current information. Always NFA/DYOR.
