Managed service providers in the data storage channel now have an interesting opportunity to dip their toe into the world of crypto currency, thanks to a distributed storage network and marketplace launched by Protocol Labs.
Protocol Labs is an open-source research, development and deployment laboratory, getting behind a number of projects that support the Web3 movement, which aims to make the internet more efficient and secure through decentralisation, blockchains, tokens and NFTs.
A major project for the firm is Filecoin, which allows service providers to earn free Filecoins as they build up the data capacity they offer through the Filecoin distributed storage network, and the amount of data placed in it by their customers.
At this week’s IT Press Tour across Silicon Valley, attended by IT Europa, Protocol Labs said it currently had 4,500 service providers on the Filecoin network, which were mainly based in the Americas and Asia. It is now trying to ramp up its reach in Europe, offering its blockchain-driven data network to all-comers.
Make no mistake, this isn’t the fastest data storage and data back-up network available to man. It can’t be with some of the strict security protocols in place to protect the correct versions of data that customers are promised.
However, the cost of storing data in the system is claimed to be up to 90% cheaper than putting cold or archived data in Amazon’s well-established S3 system.
The value of the Filecoin, which can be bought and traded on all the major crypto exchanges, was around $5 the last time I looked. MSPs earning the coins can either sit on them, hoping they gain value, particularly as the data management system gains more global traction and more people want the coins, or they can instead easily cash-out and invest the money into their data management operations.
Another nice-to-have for MSPs considering their sustainability credentials is that the blockchain system can be interrogated by potential customers, to see how much power is being used by MSPs to store and manage data. So the ones who are making efforts in this field can not only win over “green” customers, but also use results in their marketing.
Colin Evran (pictured), ecosystem lead at Protocol Labs, said: “We are offering an open market for storage services, and a storage layer for the evolving Web3.
“We want to be the world’s biggest decentralised storage network for web-scale apps.”
He claimed: “We are providing the greenest storage network available using blockchain technology. We are able to show what energy consumption is being used through the data, that can be accessed by users.”
Protocol Labs maintains the network and service providers sell their services locally. The company is answerable to the open-source community in how the network is run, but the in-built rule is that it automatically always holds 15% of the Filecoins in circulation. It also aims to make money from the investments it makes in the start-ups and more established firms that catch its eye, from being involved in its projects.
At the event, a number of signed-up data management service providers presented the use cases they were involved in. This included one that was a heavy player in the university research market, and another in the games developer market.
