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UK tech startup wants businesses to share their surplus compute capacity to run its cloud
UK-based startup DADI is taking on the hyperscale giants in a bid to “democratise” the cloud and create an internet that is majority owned by the public
A UK-based technology startup is asking businesses and consumers to contribute their surplus compute power to its decentralised cloud network as part of its push to democratise the internet.
The Decentralised Architecture for a Democratic Internet (DADI), as the company is called, operates a peer-to-peer network – built on blockchain technology – that runs on the spare compute capacity stored on devices in people’s homes and businesses.
The idea is that participants will link their devices to the network so any spare compute capacity they have can be made available to businesses requiring access to cloud infrastructure resources.
For this reason, the company claims the resultant network will be majority owned by the public, and 85% of the revenue generated by its activities will be passed back to the individuals and businesses that contribute capacity to it.
The remaining 15% will be carved up so that 5% will be reinvested in maintaining DADI’s network infrastructure, and the rest will be donated to the company’s charitable arm, the DADI Foundation, which is geared towards promoting “fair internet access for all”.
Participants will be remunerated according to the amount of capacity they provide, and the company is looking to start sourcing contributions from July 2018.
However, its cloud services are available for businesses to use now, and publishing house Bauer Media is known to be one of the firm’s earliest adopters.
Joseph Denne, company founder and CEO, said DADI’s aim is to reduce society’s growing reliance on datacentres that are owned and operated by some of the world’s biggest technology giants.
“A vast amount of computational power currently goes unused in homes and businesses around the world,” he said. “Expensive computers, games consoles, set-top boxes, smart televisions and other devices spend large amounts of their life unused or in standby mode.
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“That is the power we will harness for this new network – drastically reducing reliance on expensive datacentres that harm the environment.”
Denne added: “In the same way that homeowners can now install solar panels and sell excess electricity back to the National Grid, the public will be able to connect their devices in the home to the DADI network – earning passive income as a contributor and part-owner of a fairer, faster, safer internet.”
The network has reportedly been under development for four years, during which time $2m in direct persona investment has been spent on preparing it for launch.
DADI embarked on an initial coin offering in January 2018, also raising an additional $30m in crowdfunding contributions.
