Toward an intelligent and infinitely scalable decentralized cloud (sponsored by DFINITY)

DFINITY, a new kind of open cloud computing resource, takes the form of a decentralized network that conjures a performant "blockchain computer" with unbounded capacity that will act much like a gigantic shared mainframe for the world. Dominic Williams introduces the project and explores the foundational decentralized computing techniques it makes use of.

DFINITY, a new kind of open cloud computing resource, takes the form of a decentralized network that conjures a performant “blockchain computer” with unbounded capacity that will act much like a gigantic shared mainframe for the world. Although the cost of storage and computation on this cyberspace-resident virtual computer is more than on AWS, DFINITY’s brings with it some new, exciting properties that make it worthwhile. For example, the simplified development and maintenance of enterprise IT systems on the new platform has the potential to greatly reduce their total cost of ownership because the supporting human capital involved is reduced. Furthermore, interoperability between different systems is greatly eased, and it will be possible to create “open source” businesses, in the form of autonomous, self-updating software systems. Dominic Williams explores some of the foundational new techniques applied within this cutting edge decentralized computing project and introduces DFINITY Stiftung, a not-for-profit foundation that disburses funding to those engaged in R&D related to DFINITY. The foundation currently has more than $25M in funding and is expected to receive in excess of $100M more, making it one of the most ambitious open source projects in tech today. This session is sponsored by DFINITY.