# A new approach to the Internet Architecture - ThreeFold

# A new approach to the Internet Architecture

The Edge internet needs a different approach. So, we started as from scratch and shaped a totally new approach..

Weynand Kuijpers

12 May 2018

## ThreeFold's technology does not follow the traditional IT model

The Edge internet needs a different approach. So, we started from scratch and shaped a new approach. ThreeFold's open-source technology addresses the scalability, security, storage, energy, and operating issues by simplifying architectures and not relying on third-party software. This drives down costs and improves efficiencies.

### What is ThreeFold's Technology Toolbox?

ThreeFold's technology is based on three primary building blocks: Stateless Computing, Self-Healing Technology, and Blockchain technology - this is the core of our “Technology Toolbox".

- Stateless Computing: a stateless operating system, Zero-OS, enabling distributed hardware to form an Edge Internet grid generating IT storage and compute capacity
- Self-Healing Technology: controls and operates a distributed cloud and reserves, procures, and executes workloads on the grid using our Jumpscale platform. It delivers autoscaling and automation frameworks that enable self-healing and can be adapted for any kind of IT workload.
- Blockchain Technology: Via Rivine - our secure, scalable “proof of stake” blockchain, along with our identity management platform, ItsYou.online. Our blockchain technology enables user authentication, access controls, secure workloads, and heightened security.

### Enabling Stateless Computing

The global decentralized internet will be composed of thousands (millions?) of nodes distributed geographically. This means the decentralized internet must be powered by a stateless operating system that can be booted via the Internet (as opposed to living on the node locally). This removes the complexity of upgrades, truck rolls, etc.
Open-source components have been developed, Zero-OS, for the deployment of bare metal machines functioning as Internet nodes and application hosts. Our Zero-OS platform runs containerized applications and software code on secure and distributed IT infrastructure. Zero-OS can be deployed on off-the-shelf hardware by anyone willing to make server and storage capacity available in their markets and within our network.

#### The benefits of Stateless Computing are substantial, including:

- Performance: lightweight OS without overhead for running bare-metal machines.
- Free: finds the optimal performance of server & storage nodes at no cost.
- Private: no data footprint remains while workloads move from one node to another.
- Distributed: capacity is generated without the need for data centers: At The Edge.
- High-available: easy creation of clusters while applications run in fragmented segments.
- Portability: moving software from one node to another within the grid is instant.
- Secure: open-source distributed software with transparent code. No security backdoors
- Sustainable: energy-efficient OS resulting in very low node power consumption.

### Technology that is self-healing & self-driving

ThreeFold's Jumpscale framework and ZeroBot allow the creation of blueprints to auto-deploy applications within the compute environment. The bots are constantly checking the health and uptime of the infrastructure, and runtime environments, to guarantee the performance and availability of applications at all times.

#### The benefits of our self-healing technology protocols include the following:

- Self-Healing: the platform regenerates when health issues that cause downtime for infrastructure and applications are detected.
- Intelligence: agents capture information from the grid and make intelligent decisions to provide an ideal and optimal host environment for software code and containerized applications.
- Lifecycle Management: the status of the infrastructure and the lifecycle of running applications are constantly checked and recorded.
- Autoscaling: the platform automatically scales to meet application and infrastructure performance.

### Blockchain Technology to execute workloads and applications via smart contracts

The engineers developed new blockchain algorithms based on proof of stake for validation purposes and turned this into our Rivine open-source blockchain software.
Unlike the “proof of work” blockchains that currently dominate the space, our Rivine blockchain is scalable, green, and secure - and does not rely on huge mining resources. We run our blockchain on approximately 200 dedicated nodes and do not rely on any third-party software.
In addition to our blockchain technology, we have also developed ItsYou.Online, an identity, and access management platform. Itsyou. online uses three-factor authentication to manage access on our network and facilitate execution.

#### The benefits of TF blockchain technology and identity management platform include:

- Sustainable: our algorithms to reach consensus use a minimal amount of energy and electricity compared to other blockchain software and networks.
- Lowest possible cost: of transactions make it an efficient and fast payment system.
- Neutral: state of the network and applications are recorded in a transparent and immutable manner.
- Payment fulfillment: transactions are automatically paid using ThreeFold Tokens.
- Smart Contracts: fully automated execution of contracts from customers buying Internet IT capacity.
  All of our technology is open-source and can be accessed in the following Github Repos:

- Zero-OS: https://github.com/threefoldtech/zos
- Jumpscale: https://github.com/threefoldtech/js-ng
- BCDB : https://github.com/threefoldtech/bcdb

tech grid

## What is Peer-to-Peer and Why is it so important?

P2P systems are network, not linear or pyramidal hierarchies (though they may share some elements)..

15 December 2020

## The need for ThreeFold's neutral internet

The Internet is no longer the neutral place it used to be. +80% of the Internet capacity is delivered by a handful of companies.

01 June 2017