Research Summary
The report discusses io.net, a decentralized cloud platform aiming to disrupt Amazon Web Services (AWS) by offering machine learning engineers access to distributed cloud clusters at a fraction of the cost. The platform is built on Solana and has recently raised $30M from major backers.
Key Takeaways
Disrupting the Cloud Computing Market
- Competing with AWS: io.net aims to compete with AWS by offering significantly lower prices, up to 90% cheaper. The platform provides instant, permissionless access to a global network of GPUs and CPUs. It currently has 25,000 nodes and has integrated Render and Filecoin.
- Unique Offering: io.net’s GPU clustering solution is unique. It allows for the cloud clustering of GPUs together, which can save large scale AI startups 90% on their compute costs.
Future Plans and Roadmap
- Business Roadmap: io.net plans to continue building its network and sales team. The company aims to attract AI customers and form partnerships with entities like Hugging Face and Prettybase. It also plans to target big tech companies or enterprises with internal AI divisions.
- Technical Roadmap: On the technical side, io.net plans to expand its offerings to include compute, model storage, and an SDK for building apps, creating a fully decentralized AI ecosystem.
Token Utility and Blockchain Choice
- IO Token: The IO token will be used to pay for compute on the network. The tokenomics are still being finalized and are expected to be announced around April.
- Choice of Solana: Solana was chosen due to its strong community and its ability to support the high volume of transactions required by io.net.
Market Size and Potential
- Market Size: The potential size of the market is vast, with estimates suggesting that the entire AI GPU market for compute services could be a $3 trillion market.
Actionable Insights
- Monitor the Progress of io.net: Given its ambitious plans and potential market size, it would be prudent to keep an eye on io.net’s progress, particularly its upcoming token launch and the announcement of its finalized tokenomics.
- Consider the Implications for AWS: As io.net aims to disrupt AWS, it would be worthwhile to consider the potential implications for AWS and the broader cloud computing market.
- Explore the Potential of Solana: Given that io.net chose Solana due to its ability to support high transaction volumes, it may be worth exploring the potential of Solana and other blockchain platforms that can handle similar volumes.
