Decentralized storage protocol Arweave officially launched the decentralized computing network ao testnet yesterday, providing unique technological innovations including parallel computing mechanism, long-term active contracts, native integrated storage facilities, etc., shaping a brand new image of storage + computing and entering the blockchain development market.
Table of Contents
Toggle
Arweave launches decentralized network ao
Technical features
Parallel computing
Modular architecture
Native integrated access facilities
Long-term active contracts
Business development strategy
Product line gradually complete
Unique selling points
Biggest challenge: market acceptance
Two weeks ago, Arweave founder Sam announced on Twitter that they would launch a computing network that can parallel process the existing PoS network, and today the network officially launched the testnet.
ao aims to provide an environment for coordinating arbitrary numbers of computations through an open messaging layer for parallel processing.
Unlike the design architecture of existing blockchain nodes, ao uses Scheduler Units, Compute Units (CUs), and Messenger Units (MUs) as the operational components of the network, combined with Arweave storage facilities, to fundamentally create a new computing environment.
Compared to Ethereum and other EVM blockchain networks, due to the inherent conditions of network architecture and account model design, there are often many restrictions in contract design, such as not being suitable for writing loop-type applications or contracts with large code volume.
ao, through the message-passing layer based on the actor model, coordinates the nodes. Unlike traditional blockchains, it can provide efficient computing performance between different systems, execute any program or smart contract without restrictions. Therefore, there is no need to limit the size and form of protocols while maintaining the verifiability and decentralization of the network itself.
ao integrates the design of smart contracts without trust with traditional computing environments (such as Amazon EC2). By integrating various traditional computing environments as node designs through the aforementioned special message architecture, ao can have many technological advantages and create an environment for innovative application and contract development.
ao can simultaneously run any number of smart contracts or programs. Based on the actor model, ao does not allow execution processes to share memory but allows them to coordinate through message passing. This keeps these execution processes running at full speed without interfering with each other.
Through message passing, ao can achieve scalability mechanisms that are closer to traditional Web2 and distributed system environments than smart contracts.
ao does not strictly define the computing environment conditions and is also modular, allowing developers to choose different modular functionalities, including virtual machines, sorters, message transmission models, and fuel fee mechanisms, to assemble different environments according to their needs.
By settling all messages in the same format to Arweave’s decentralized data layer, ao can unify the modular environment suitable for a wide range of applications, where each execution process can easily transmit messages and collaborate.
In addition, ao’s distributed and modular architecture allows existing smart contract blockchain networks to integrate message transmission with ao.
ao will natively access Arweave, seamlessly loading and executing any size of data directly into memory and writing it back to the network. This configuration eliminates typical resource constraints and achieves a fully parallel execution environment, greatly expanding the possibilities of application development.
ao may break through the limitations of traditional blockchain networks, especially for complex applications requiring large-scale data processing and computational resources, such as machine learning and high-computing autonomous agents.
In traditional smart contract environments, contracts are “awakened” to perform calculations based on user transaction requests. Unless users interact with the application, the program will not remain online at all times, thereby limiting the possibility of building innovative applications on it.
ao eliminates this limitation by allowing contracts to have scheduled interaction time, and these interactions will automatically awaken the contract and perform calculations at the set time intervals. Any user or execution process itself can pay nodes to subscribe to execution processes in advance to trigger calculations at the appropriate frequency.
Arweave will not be limited to storage but will expand into decentralized computing, creating a more complete ecosystem with excellent infrastructure and integration, which has the opportunity to attract more developers and have more innovative applications.
Unlike most infrastructure development teams in the industry that are still bound by the architecture of blockchains, the ao team can think outside the box more easily due to Arweave’s design and create a decentralized network that is more efficient than blockchain architecture through a new messaging mechanism.
Recommended Reading:
Exploring the New Era of Decentralized Networks: In-depth Analysis of DePIN Concept, What is DePIN?
Instagram to Open NFT Creation and Trading Functionality! Storage through Arweave, AR Rises 50%.