Maidsafe, a group based in Scotland, are developing a product which could turn the internet on its head.
Image Source https://maidsafe.net/
In this post I will provide motivations for what Maidsafe is trying to achieve, who its competitors are and alternative solutions that are being developed.
Will Maidsafe be the future of storage for the internet?
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The Cloud in 2017
Maidsafe are tinkering with the data storage model used by the Internet. We all know about "the cloud" but what exactly is it?
In early 2017 the main engines under the hood of the Internet are big Data Centers. Here is where the cloud data lives. Facebook alone has 5 massive centers with 1 more under construction (in Ireland). Thousands of computers are running in these datacenters and everytime someone uploads a photo to Facebook its saved in one of these datacenters. It's then backed up and copied multiple times across the datacenters.
Sure, this works great today but there are huge risks for the data stored here.
- What would happen to all your data if the company goes out of business?
In that scenario the data centers would be closed and the servers turned off. Your data would disappear forever. - What about Security?
What if someone hacks the datacenter and steals your data. This is a real concern for the likes of Yahoo, Amazon, Google where sensitive customer financial data can be present. - What about misuses of your data?
This scenario extends well beyond governments. What if marketing companies are using your personal data to sell you stuff or take advantage of your situation?
Well beyond these basic concerns the list goes on and on......
What does the current cloud look like?
This Facebook Data Center is under construction in Ireland.
Clonee Data Center Under Construction
Image Source: https://www.facebook.com/
Inside there will be rows of computers like this
Image Source https://pixabay.com/
The Future is Now
Maidsafe
Maidsafes tagline is "The New Decentralised Internet". This company is the pioneer in this space. They are building a network that functions without centralised servers. A cloud that is a real digital cloud and not a pseudo cloud contained in a centralised data center.
Image Source https://maidsafe.net/
Clouds of the Future
Today websites and web based filestorage mainly consist of files saved on centralised servers. When you download a file or access a webpage your actually connecting to a server where the data is stored.
Maidsafe is building a new storage solution for this data. If you store data on the Safe network you can access it from anywhere but you wont be connecting to a datacenter. You will be connecting to a global network of computers that are storing copies of your file, backed up, encrypted and safe from prying eyes. Only you will have access.
Other Solutions
Maidsafe is a radical overhaul of how the net operates. It has been in development for many years and it could be some more time before it is an everyday reality. There has been significant progress recently and they are moving to an Alpha 2 release soon but I think it may still be a bit of time yet before we are all connecting to the Safe Network.
Storj & SIA
Storj and Sia are alternative decentralised cloud solutions. Where Maidsafe has a vision that will turn the internet on its head, the solutions offered by Storj and Sia plug into the existing internet but leverage blockchain technology. They effectively create mini data centers that anyone set up on their home PC. They let everyday comptuers become the cloud. You can rent out space on your computer which is then used by the networks to store the cloud data. The people who want to use this cloud for storage will pay for it and the people providing the space will earn money.
The following video from the Storj website gives a very good brief explanation of what both Sia and Stroj are looking to achieve.
Storj vs Sia
"The promise of Sia is a decentralized network of datacenters that, taken together, comprise the world's fastest, cheapest, and most secure cloud storage platform."
"Storjs mission is to rethink cloud storage, to provide the security, privacy, and transparency it’s missing."
On the face of it these two platforms appear very similar but the key difference lies in how payments are made.
- Sia enforces payment with on blockchain smart contracts. This allows Sia to enforce penalties on hosts that go offline.
- Storj offers a pay as you go model.
Further details can be found on this thread by one of the lead Sia developers.
IPFS
Another form of decentralised cloud storage that is been developed is IPFS. One application for this technology will be to power the backbone of the Openbazaar 2 network. IPFS is not really a cloud storage solution but a way of accessing copies of files that are out there in the Cloud. It's more of a rethink of the way the http protocol works, rather than a cloud storage solution.
The following video by Juan Benet from 2015 is also worth watching to get an introduction and motivation for the need for IPFS
Opportunities
From an Enterprise perspective the big players in the storage and software as a service space are Amazon, IBM, Google, Salesforce and Microsoft. Maidsafe, Sia and Storage are certainly going after the enterprise market with their products. There is money here but these users will demand very stable and reliable solutions. The challenge will be to convince these customers that a long term solution to their storage needs will be provided by Sia or Stroj.
In the personal market customers use Dropbox, Google drive and the like. They want storage to be easy and cheap. It's early days yet and if apps can develop that let you snap a photo and upload to the Sia cloud then people may be happier to pay a small fee than let the likes of Google or Facebook have access to all their data. A niche will be found where security and privacy is paramount.
Talking with IT professionals in the Industry these solutions are not on the radar of traditional companies at all. The likes of Google and Amazon are too big to fail, or at least too far ahead to catch up with.
What do you think is in store?
Have you started farming with Sia?
What are your experiences with Maidsafe?
Please share your experiences in the comments.
Thank you for reading this. I write on Steemit about Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Travel and lots of random topics.
