iEx.ec, a distributed cloud computing platform, hopes to use blockchain to reuse idle computing power and thermal energy

IEXEC BLOCKCHAIN ​​TECH, a French blockchain innovation company, recently launched iEx.ec, a distributed cloud computing platform based on blockchain.

iEx.ec has built a virtual global distributed cloud computing infrastructure based on the Ethereum blockchain, with the goal of integrating global computing power and providing idle computing power to customers in need. At the same time, the heat energy generated by these computing facilities distributed in various places during high-performance computing can meet various market demands for heat energy and achieve zero-emission green computing requirements.

The typical application scenario is to rent idle resources from cheap computing centers or cloud computing (Amazon, Google, Azure, etc.), and even larger idle CPU resources from personal PCs distributed around the world, and use the iEx.ec platform to rent resources to individuals and small and medium-sized enterprise users who need resources. The platform's main profit comes from the price difference of resource rental and the provision of customized computing application services for advanced users.

iEx.ec's multinational team is experienced in research and development. The core team is mainly composed of scholars and engineers from the national computer research institutes of France and China (INRIA, CNRS, CNIC/CAS), and has published a large number of relevant papers. The founder, Professor Gilles Fedak, is the designer and developer of XtremWeb, the first desktop distributed grid system in Europe with a world-renowned reputation. In 2004, he became a lifelong researcher at INRIA. The chief scientist, Professor Haiwu He, is currently a researcher of the Hundred Talents Program at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CNIC) and is an expert in cloud computing and big data.

In addition to having a multinational star team, iEx.ec also has rich project accumulation. Based on more than 10 years of EU and French research results, it has developed and operated relatively stable system prototypes XtremWeb-HEP and BitDew. It is reported that the system has been verified as part of the EU's grid infrastructure European Desktop Grid Initiative (EDGI) and applied to some information infrastructure and scientific research systems in the EU and France.

In addition, Professor Haiwu He also revealed that

iEx.ec has received support from top international computer research institutions (INRIA, CNRS, CAS) and can quickly put a mature prototype system online. The project has accumulated considerable scientific research and production applications through the EU and French scientific research and industrialization cultivation, which is also an incomparable advantage of iEx.ec. iEx.ec will accelerate the implementation and expansion of the project in the Chinese market after the ICO at the end of this year.

Previously, the project has received support from Wanxiang Blockchain Lab BlockGrantX and has been admitted to Tsinghua SEM X-elerator, an accelerator for entrepreneurs at Tsinghua School of Economics and Management.

There are similar projects in the community. Golem, a decentralized computing platform based on Ethereum, completed its ICO in 20 minutes on November 11 this year and successfully raised $8 million (820,000 ETH). Cloud computing is an important application direction of blockchain, and previous financing cases also show how much the community values ​​such projects.

Unlike other cloud computing projects, in addition to building a cloud platform for computing power integration, the iEx.ec system also includes heat recovery. In November 2016, iExec Blockchain Technology Company and French company Stimergy cooperated on a project (see figure): using computer cluster CPU heat to provide central heating for buildings. This is the first time in history that heat recovery has been achieved in distributed cloud computing based on blockchain.

Stimergy server, with coolant in the outer/inner ducts to output the heat energy generated by high-performance computing.

In terms of project progress, there are already product prototypes: XtremWeb and XtremWeb-HEP distributed systems (https://xtremweb-hep.lal.in2p3.fr/). The next step is to use the Ethereum blockchain as a SandBox to experiment and develop the proof of contribution blockchain. In order to build a network of trusted nodes, iEx.ec will adopt a hybrid proof of work (Proof Of Work) and proof of contribution (Proof Of Contribution) protocol.

Since it is based on Ethereum, will problems such as hard forks that may occur in the Ethereum system affect the project? The team explained,

“Currently, various problems with Ethereum will hardly affect our system. Because we use side chains, only when major technical problems occur on the main chain will there be a significant impact. Currently, the development of Ethereum’s main chain is relatively stable. When our project has made significant progress, we hope to further develop our own public chain, thus completely breaking away from the Ethereum public chain.”