Node Application 10538828258, submitted 2019-02-19 5:57:02

Respondent Id 10538828258
Application Date 2019-02-19 5:57:02
Application Language English
Applicant City South Bend
Applicant State/Province IN
Applicant Country United States
What languages do you speak? English
What is your occupation? Full-Time Node Operator
How many years experience in your field? 4-7
What is the highest degree or level of school you have completed? Master’s degree (for example: MA, MS, MEng, MEd, MSW, MBA)
Please describe your experience in the Crypto/Blockchain space, if any? Have been an investor and developer in blockchain for about 4 years. I wrote my master's thesis on blockchain infrastructure and currently teach a master's level course on blockchain to business students. My company is focused primarily at building the underlying network infrastructure required for blockchain applications both in the cloud and on hardware.
Are you an individual or a group? Group
Node City South Bend
Node State IN
Node Country United States
For which networks Have you ever operated a node? Bitcoin (BTC, BCH, etc), Ethereum (ETH, ETC, etc), Tezos, Monero, Factom, Cosmos, Polkadot, IoTex
What kind of improvements would you like to see in Elixxir nodes vs. previous the previous nodes you have supported? For most nodes, updates and network issues tend to remain hidden and dealt with by the central dev team. It's very important for node operators to participate in the testing and release of updates and have a technical understanding of what the update does. This usually starts with a strong, distributed test net that continues even after mainnet launch to continually test new updates and issues. All of this, of course, is the transparency and communication ability of the central dev team.
What are potential setbacks preventing you from operating an Elixxir node? I need to understand the full node requirements and timeline for mainnet launch so I can make a smart financial decision whether to support the testnet. We have direct fiber access so are able to run cheaply, however, full understanding of the Elixxir timeline is essential.
What is a reasonable maximum connection speed on which you could operate a BetaNet node in your geographic region? (Where 0 = 10 Megabits/second, and 100 = 10 Gigabits/second) 75
What is a reasonable uptime estimate you can provide for your BetaNet node? (As a percentage) 99
Please estimate the cost of electricity in the geographic area where your BetaNet node will be running. . 5.5 c/kWh
On a monthly basis, how much time can you publicly commit to dedicating toward governance if you were selected as a BetaNet node operator? (Where 0 = 1 hour/month, and 100 = 20 hours/month) 50
If you were selected to run a BetaNet node, would it run on your own hardware or be deployed to cloud-based servers? Hardware
In what type of environment would this server be located? Datacenter
Do you have past experience deploying hardware servers in a datacenter? Yes (please describe)
Do you already own sufficient hardware to meet the published Elixxir BetaNet node specifications? No
Yes (Please list specs)
Do you have hardware you would like to use but does not meet the stated BetaNet node specs? If so, please provide specs on that hardware below:
Do you have past experience deploying servers to cloud-based services? Yes (please specify)
Yes (please specify) Our team has over 10 years combined experience on both AWS and Azure. Our sister company, Trek10, is a top AWS consulting partner and assists in more complex network builds as needed.
Why do you want to be a node? First, we fully believe in a decentralized future for money and information as well as the creation of the internet of value. From our perspective and market experience, we believe that dedicated, physically distributed infrastructure is key to achieving this. As such, we are looking for projects with significant potential to support that are following those two core beliefs.
How did you originally hear about Elixxir? Bitcointalk
Which current Elixxir communities are you a member of? Telegram, Discord, Twitter
Are you an active member of those communities? Yes
What specifically, interests you about the Elixxir platform? The background of the team. The focus on high-end hardware. The overall goals of the community.
Outside of Elixxir communities, are you an active participant in other node or developer community groups? If so, which ones? Yes, Factom, Lightning Network.
Have you ever attended a blockchain conference? If so, which one(s)? Consensus 2018
As part of growing the Elixxir community, are you willing to create content as part of operating an Elixxir BetaNet node? Examples would be node setup & on-boarding review vlog post, bi-weekly twitter update, medium review of on-going node operational process, etc. Yes (how much content on a monthly basis?)
If yes, how much content on a monthly basis? 2-5 hours monthly
What is the difference between decentralized networks and distributed networks, and where on the decentralization spectrum do you sit? Decentralization refers to the control of the code/infrastructure stack while distributed refers to the physical location of participating nodes. In my view, decentralization is complicated but suffice to say as long as the centralized unit cannot control the ledger/make changes, it's acceptable. Most centralization is due to economies of scale and skill. It's impossible to prevent those things from occurring so the next best thing is to make sure that even if a centralized authority gains a significant portion of network control, they are unable to affect the consensus mechanism.
As best as you can given currently available information, please describe the value proposition of the Elixxir platform and how it differs from other current blockchain solutions. I see Elixxir as attempting to combine best practices from already existing blockchains. Significant hardware requirements to encourage skilled operators. Staying away from a true POW to discourage mining pools and extreme energy consumption. Simple enough hardware that many can support the network, but complex enough to discourage bad actors. Proof of stake? Not sure exactly how that will play out.
Privacy by Default is a goal of the Elixxir Platform. In your opinion, why is Privacy by Default critical for the future of the internet? Privacy is absolutely necessary for global adoption. Business won't use a currency where everyone can see your balance sheet, simple as that.
Tags Group, United States, English
2 Likes

Hi everyone, this is our application - We’re Consensus Networks. You can find out more about us at consensusnetworks dot com

1 Like

Excited to be in the initial list! We’re standing by to answer any questions!