http://iex.ec

iEx.ec aims at providing distributed applications running on the blockchain a scalable, secure and easy access to the services, the data-sets and the computing resources they need. This technology relies on the Ethereum smart contracts and allows building a virtual Cloud infrastructure that provides high-performance computing services on demand.

iEx.ec leverages a set of research technologies that have been developed at the INRIA and CNRS research institutes in the field of Desktop Grid computing [XtremWeb, XtremWeb-HEP]. The idea of Desktop Grid [OurGrid, Condor] (aka Volunteer Computing [BOINC]) is to collect the computer resources underutilized on the Internet to execute very large parallel applications at the fraction of the cost of a traditional supercomputer. Since the early 2000’s we have pushed this idea to its extreme limit. We produced numerous software and algorithms that introduced breakthrough innovations in the area of large scale data processing, data management, parallel computing, security and dependability, QoS, interoperability with eScience infrastructures and many more.

iEx.ec relies on XtremWeb-HEP, a mature, solid, and open-source Desktop Grid software which implements all the needed features : fault-tolerance, multi-applications, multi-users, hybrid public/private infrastructure, deployment of virtual images, data management, security and accountability, and many more.

iEx.ec is developing a new Proof-of-Contribution protocol, that will allow off-chain consensus. Thanks to the Proof-of-Contribution, external resource providers will have their resources’ usage certified directly on the blockchain. Eventually iEx.ec will deploy a scalable, high-performance, secure and manageable blockchain that will promote new form of distributed governance, implying key HPC, Big Data and Cloud industry leaders.

Thanks to iEx.ec, we can now organize decentralized infrastructures and market places, where everyone will be able to rent its computing resources (CPU, storage, GPU, …), where the innovative SMEs which design Big Data and HPC applications will be able to sell them online immediately with the needed resources to run them, and where highly valued data-sets will be rentable with a fine-grain business model. Moreover, because the blockchain provides distributed consensus and resiliency while being fully distributed, we think that it’s going to change drastically the way we design distributed systems and applications.

iEx.ec is just the beginning of a new era!

Blockchain is great, but chaîne of Mont-Blanc is even greater. The glacier d’Argentière, when skiing down from the Aiguille du Midi. Aiguille d’Argentière by the central glacier (3900m). Photo courtesy of Laurent Desquirez.