How to Achieve the Fastest Real-Time Data Detection on Solana
How to Achieve the Fastest Real-Time Data Detection on Solana
Block production on Solana rotates among leader validators around the world, slot by slot.
Understanding where the current leader is producing blocks (the leader schedule) is the first step toward achieving the fastest possible data detection. By aligning your infrastructure with this schedule and establishing a dedicated network route, you can build a more efficient and reliable data path.
Frankfurt Alone Cannot Achieve “Always Fastest”
Frankfurt hosts a relatively large number of Solana validators and takes the lead in many slots. Placing servers there already delivers solid performance.
However, the location of block production moves globally every slot. When Tokyo becomes the leader, round-trip latency from Frankfurt can exceed 200ms, and total delay in receiving and processing Shreds can reach over 1000ms. This directly affects detection and response timing, which can make a critical difference in trading and monitoring applications.
Advantage of Multi-Region Architecture
In a single-region setup, performance peaks only when that region’s validator is the leader. To avoid this, resources should be distributed across key regions such as Frankfurt, New York, Tokyo, and Singapore. Each location can receive Shreds in real time with minimal latency.
By connecting those regions through a private backbone, the streams from different locations can complement each other to form a more complete and consistent real-time view. This structure helps maintain “always fastest somewhere,” reducing data gaps caused by leader transitions.
It is particularly effective for platforms and applications where detection speed directly affects performance, such as high-frequency trading, visualization, and alerting systems.
Leader Slot Information API Support
The Leader Slot Information API (getLeaderSlots API) by ERPC supports this architecture. It provides leader schedule data along with approximate validator locations and ping measurements from the Frankfurt region. With this information, users can quantitatively identify which region is advantageous at a given time and adjust routing or sending strategies accordingly.
When ping from the reference point exceeds 100ms, direct communication efficiency decreases. For example, instead of accessing a New York leader from Frankfurt, it is generally more effective to utilize New York resources for both detection and transmission. The getLeaderSlots API supports such decisions based on measured data.
Leader Slot Information API (getLeaderSlots API): https://erpc.global/en/doc/rpc/leader-slot-api/
Toward Faster Finalization with Alpenglow
With the upcoming Alpenglow consensus, Solana’s finalization time will move from the current roughly 12,300ms to around 100–150ms, representing a major shift toward sub-second confirmation.
In addition, Fast Leader Handover allows the next leader to begin block construction before the previous block is fully confirmed, reducing transition delays between leaders. The related proposal SIMD-0337 Parent-Ready Update Marker enables explicit parent updates within blocks to eliminate idle time during handover.
Preparing for this transition requires multi-region data ingestion and global detection infrastructure to continuously track the current leader position. This is the foundation of achieving the fastest and most consistent data detection.
SIMD-0337 Parent-Ready Update Marker: https://github.com/solana-foundation/solana-improvement-documents/blob/main/proposals/0337-parent-ready-update-marker.md
Achieving Fastest Detection Setup with Premium Ryzen VPS
ERPC’s Premium Ryzen VPS features 5.7GHz high-clock CPUs, ECC DDR5 memory, NVMe4 storage, and dual 25Gbps networks. It is designed without overcommitment, offering bare-metal level stability in a virtualized environment.
Available Regions
- Amsterdam
- Frankfurt
- London
- New York
- Salt Lake City
- Singapore
- Tokyo
Each instance is placed in the same data centers as major validators and Jito Block Engine nodes, minimizing network distance. It is ideal for multi-region setups supporting fastest detection and can be deployed directly in production environments. Orders can be placed through the Validators DAO official Discord.
- Validators DAO Official Discord: https://discord.gg/C7ZQSrCkYR
Solana RPC Bundle Plan
The Bundle Plan combines HTTP, WebSocket, gRPC, and Shredstream access in a single package. It allows projects to integrate high-speed streams while maintaining production operation and is already adopted by many Solana developers.
Existing RPC or gRPC users can migrate to the Bundle Plan to access Shredstream at no additional cost, enabling realistic performance testing under production conditions. It provides flexibility for both development and operation, serving as a standard configuration for advanced Solana projects.
Challenges ERPC and Validators DAO Address
- Transaction failures and latency fluctuations in general RPC environments
- Performance limitations from infrastructure providers
- Strong influence of physical network distance on communication quality
- Difficulty for small projects to access high-performance infrastructure
Through developing the open-source Solana NFT card game Epics DAO, we faced the challenge of lacking accessible, high-performance Solana infrastructure. Based on that experience, we built our own platform and now provide ERPC and SLV.
In financial and mission-critical applications, delays or errors directly affect user experience. With Solana’s distributed validator network and complex Web3 architecture, maintaining consistency and low latency is difficult. Many projects struggle with instability and performance variations.
As Solana introduces next-generation technologies such as Alpenglow, faster finalization and improved communication layers are expected. ERPC and Validators DAO will continue adapting to these developments, contributing to better development and user experiences throughout the Solana ecosystem. Both ERPC and SLV are part of this effort.
- ERPC Official: https://erpc.global/en
- SLV Official: https://slv.dev/en
- elSOL Official: https://elsol.app/en
- Epics DAO Official: https://epics.dev/en
- Validators DAO Discord: https://discord.gg/C7ZQSrCkYR
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