Open-Source Project Skeet Launches India's Only Solana Blockchain Data Center

ELSOUL LABO B.V. (Headquarters: Amsterdam, Netherlands, CEO: Fumitake Kawasaki), together with Epics DAO, which it established to operate a Web3 NFT card game supporting open-source software development, is driving innovation and sustainable development in blockchain technology through the development and operation of 'solv', an open-source tool for Solana blockchain validators. This tool has proven its performance and reliability over approximately one year of operation and is now extensively used by many users on both the mainnet and testnet of the Solana blockchain.

Similarly, the Skeet development team, also established by ELSOUL LABO, has been leveraging its software development expertise for validator operations, aiming to enhance the sustainability of open-source development by allocating rewards to cover necessary costs and utilizing 'solv' in operating Solana blockchain validators.

We are pleased to announce the establishment of the only Solana blockchain data center in India by the Skeet development team.

The Decision to Establish India’s Only Solana Data Center and the Inside Story of Skeet Development

Currently, there are about 1,700 Solana mainnet validators operating worldwide, distributed across 317 mainnet data centers.

Reference: https://www.validators.app/data-centers?locale=en&network=mainnet&sort_by=data_center

However, as of May 2024, there were no Solana data centers in India.

Looking at the global distribution of Solana data centers, many are concentrated in the USA and Europe, while Asia, Oceania, South America, and Africa still have far fewer data centers.

One reason for this is server costs. Large data centers incur significant cooling costs. Additionally, the maintenance expenses of data centers are heavily influenced by the location's environmental conditions, making operations in regions with harsh climates like India difficult and costly.

These server costs directly impact validator operational profits, creating a barrier to entry. This trend is pronounced; the higher the server costs, the fewer the validators in that region.

Furthermore, launching and maintaining validators is costly. Especially in regions with few validators, preparing the right machine specs and managing operations becomes more complex, and initial setups are particularly challenging.

At one point, the few Solana validators operating in India withdrew due to these high costs.

For the Solana network, and indeed for the proliferation and development of blockchain technology, it's crucial to distribute data centers globally.

Users in regions without nearby validator nodes experience degraded network performance, which stifles development and results in lost opportunities for innovation.

In 2018, the founding members of ELSOUL LABO set up an offshore app development company in India, working on numerous projects alongside many Indian IT professionals.

India boasts a vast number of IT technicians and numerous development projects.

The fluidity of developers, who typically move from project to project, is high. Therefore, Indian IT technicians are very proactive about new technologies and eager to learn.

However, unifying team perceptions and development methods was challenging.

We relied heavily on open-source application frameworks to standardize development methods and deeply appreciated their value.

However, organizations using application frameworks faced several challenges, especially in deployment.

Issues that worked in the development environment but failed in production and errors due to differences in environment among team members degraded development efficiency. Ultimately, difficulty in unifying development led us to withdraw, which was regrettable.

This was not a flaw in the application frameworks themselves but an inherent difficulty in deploying applications.

We felt the need to integrate a robust (environmentally stable without unexpected errors) environment into the framework entirely, which led us to start researching serverless frameworks immediately after withdrawing.

Our third open-source serverless framework, Skeet, was presented at the international conference ENASE 2024 and received high acclaim from many participants.

To give back to India, where we made this significant discovery, we decided to establish the only Solana data center in the country.

This will contribute to the proliferation and development of the Solana network in India, providing many Indian IT technicians with opportunities to tackle new innovations where we see significant potential and value.

In fact, when we began our business in India in 2018, QR payment systems like Paytm were already widespread, enabling transactions at street vendors and food stalls. PayPay, which has become commonplace in Japan today, was launched in October 2018 and developed based on Paytm's technology, showcasing the rapid pace of technological adoption and innovation in India.

We look forward to numerous blockchain-based innovations emerging in India in the future.

Solana Mainnet Data Center (India, Mumbai): https://www.validators.app/data-centers/396982-IN-Mumbai?locale=en&network=mainnet

Skeet has set a 0% fee for users who stake SOL, with an annual percentage rate (APR) of rewards at 7.58%.

To facilitate the participation of subsequent validators in regions with very few Solana validators and to aim for high validator scores, we use high-spec machine resources of 112 vCPUs + 896 GB RAM and have established a robust operating system.

Even if there is a problem with the hardware, we can quickly and easily relocate using the open-source 'solv'. The status of this new data center in Mumbai, India, is constantly monitored by ELSOUL LABO, ensuring rapid fixing in any emergency.

We would be very pleased if you continue to support our activities.

Skeet - Solana Mainnet Validator: https://www.validators.app/validators/LionBN8UQ69Amea77CurDSCnRDVGTMND9oyv74ZteE2?locale=en&network=mainnet

ELSOUL LABO and Epics DAO

ELSOUL LABO and Epics DAO's core teams are actively involved in open-source software development.

They operate two open-source software projects, "solv" and "Skeet."

"solv" is an open-source tool simplifying the setup and operation of Solana validators and RPC nodes. To earn rewards as a blockchain validator, machine resources of proper specifications are needed, and validator software installation and setup should be completed per documentation, followed by several updates each week.

With "solv," Solana validators can be easily launched with just three commands. Updates require only one command, utilizing the open-source nature so that a single person worldwide can manage the update, and others can download it. solv documentation: https://solv.epics.dev/

"Skeet" is an open-source, serverless app development tool using TypeScript, offering a modern application framework for infrastructure management, rapid app development, AI support, and dApp/Web3 development.

Skeet documentation: https://skeet.dev/

The Skeet development team's paper, "Skeet: Towards a Lightweight Serverless Framework Supporting Modern AI-Driven App Development," was presented at ENASE 2024, an international software engineering conference held in Angers, France, on April 28-29, 2024. Dr. James represented the team and received high acclaim for his presentation.

ENASE 2024: https://enase.scitevents.org/

This study proposes a lightweight serverless framework for modern AI-driven application development. The research was published in the conference proceedings and indexed in Google Scholar, Scopus, and other major databases, making it widely accessible to the research community.

「Skeet: Towards a Lightweight Serverless Framework Supporting Modern AI-Driven App Development」 - SciTePress: https://www.scitepress.org/PublicationsDetail.aspx?ID=Rza3TGE30Xw=&t=1

We will continue promoting innovation, engaging in open-source software development, and supporting the overall development environment of open-source projects.

Company Overview

• Name: ELSOUL LABO B.V.
• CEOs: Fumitake Kawasaki, Shota Kishi
• Business: Software research and development (AI, cloud, blockchain)
• Founded: September 2020
• Location: Weteringschans 165, 1017XD Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Accreditations: WBSO (Advanced R&D) from the Dutch government, Google Cloud Build partner, ENASE2024 paper selection
• URL: https://labo.elsoul.nl
• Discord: https://discord.gg/H2HeqRq54J
• Press Kit: https://labo.elsoul.nl/en/press-kits

DAO Overview

• DAO Name: Epics DAO
• Founders: Fumitake Kawasaki, Shota Kishi
• Business: Research, development, and operation of blockchain games for social impact
• Founded: June 2022
• Award: 5th place, Solana Summer Camp Hackathon 2022
• URL: https://epics.dev
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/EpicsDAO2
• Discord: https://discord.gg/GmHYfyRamx

※ This article is not intended for investment advice. The information contained in this article is based on the situation at the time of writing. Please check for the most current information. Always NFA/DYOR.