Web3 cheerleaders Protocol Labs and the Filecoin Foundation have set up the Decentralized Storage Alliance (DSA) with AMD, Seagate, and EY as founding members.
The alliance says it will create a trusted forum where enterprises and others can come together and collaborate around new technology to accelerate the adoption of decentralized storage (dStorage) technology. Such dStorage is based on capacity being provided by a global peer-to-peer network of providers whose trustworthiness is verified by blockchain technology with the incentive of blockchain-based cryptopcurrency such as Protocol Labs Filecoin. This Web3 dStorage concept is specifically opposed to the so-called Web2 centralized storage provided by the main public clouds such as AWS, Azure, GCP, Wasabi, and others.
Marta Belcher, president and chair of the Filecoin Foundation, said: “The Filecoin network is a decentralized storage system designed to store humanity’s most important information, and a foundational technology for the next generation of the web. The Decentralized Storage Alliance will help more businesses realize the benefits of decentralized web technology.”
The benefits are claimed to be more efficient, robust, secure storage at a significantly lower cost than traditional data storage, while also giving more businesses the opportunity to participate in the data economy.
The DSA will:
- Develop standard specifications and reference architectures for enterprise companies;
- Provide access to education materials, technical resources, and best practices;
- Improve the data onboarding process to decentralized storage networks;
- Enable Working Group creation to solve specific issues with the transition to decentralized storage technologies and Web3.
The three founding DSA members are quite different from each other. EY is a global accounting and business services firm that has a blockchain, Web3, and metaverse focus in the financial services market.
It says: “Web3 is one part technology and one part approach to building an internet that empowers individuals and communities beyond the interests of centralized entities. Anchored largely in technologies like blockchain and IPFS (InterPlanetary File System), its foundation exists on the concept of decentralized infrastructure, design, storage and access.”
AMD is a semiconductor-based CPU, GPU and FPGA builder, second to Intel in the x86 processor space. Blockchain calculations are processor-intensive and AMD thinks it is poised to disrupt virtually every industry.
Seagate supplies disk drives and is currently the number two supplier in the disk drive industry. It worked with IBM blockchain tech to authenticate HDD provenance in 2019 and was involved with the Chia cryptocurrency, based on a proof of having disk (or SDD) space over a time period, last year.
DSA disclaimer
The DSA includes a disclaimer in its formation announcement, which we have not normally seen in the IT industry. It says: “Specifically, the Alliance, Protocol Labs, Filecoin Foundation, Seagate, AMD and EY, each expressly disclaims any liability related to any decision by any person or entity to buy, invest in, or otherwise support any asset.”
It also told us: “The Decentralized Storage Alliance (the ‘Alliance’) may receive certain annual financial contributions in the form of cash or resources from Protocol Labs, Filecoin Foundation, Seagate, AMD, and EY.”
And then this legalese: “No statement made in this press release, on a website, or in any other public context related to the Alliance and/or Filecoin constitutes an offer, endorsement, recommendation, or other favorable report by the Alliance, Protocol Labs, Filecoin Foundation, Seagate, AMD, or EY, or any of their affiliates, or of any product or service provided by any of them, or of any other asset.”
We understand this to mean that if you buy Filecoin cryptocurency and lose money, you’re on your own.
