Infrastructure web 3 – clear about the incomprehensible
Preamble
Ask the head of any company about how he sees its development, and he will most likely answer that the company’s strategy is its movement towards the third generation Internet. Today, everyone wants to move towards web 3, although many do not understand clear what it is. Various authoritative experts offer their own interpretations of the web 3 era. Of course, only time will tell how correct their understanding of the transformation of the World Wide Web that is taking place before our eyes was. We can safely say only one thing – the technological world is at the stage of an industrial revolution, when power and money are transferred to those who can process data.
The architecture of the web 3.0 ecosystem is logical. It, like a stable pyramid, relies on web 3 infrastructure. Therefore, the infrastructure is the basis, and it must be strong and reliable. For these purposes, the infrastructure needs to be maintained. This can be done both independently and through an outsourcer by defining web3 infrastructure as a service.
Blockchain architecture
So, as we mentioned above, the pyramid of the web 3 ecosystem, the top of which is decentralized applications, relies on infrastructure. In turn, the web 3 infrastructure consists of the following components:
1 – chips and servers,
2 – data centers,
3 – level 1 blockchain,
4 – level 2 blockchain.
Let`s describe the architecture in more detail. The most basic level of architecture – chips and servers – is network equipment with software and electronic components that must be able to respond to user requests and process large amounts of information. As for data centers, this is nothing more than an IT infrastructure, which processes, stores, and disseminates information.
Blockchain, as one of the important components of the Web 3 ecosystem, has its architecture. From the point of view of the architectural vertical, the blockchain consists of 6 levels. These levels are data level, network level, level of consensus, activation level, contract level, and application level. However, from the point of view of one of the most serious problems of the blockchain – scalability, the architecture of blockchains is usually divided into three levels:
Layer 0. It responds to transferring data from traditional networks to the blockchain.
Layer 1. It includes the basic functionality of the blockchain and consists of a data level, a network level, a consensus level, and an activation level of the vertical blockchain architecture.
Layer 2. It is an add-on above layer 1, increases throughput, and includes contract and application levels of the vertical blockchain architecture.
All the main functionality of blockchains known to us, such as Bitcoin and Solana, is implemented at level 1, which is why these blockchains are often called “blockchains of first-level chain ”. It is with Level 1 scaling that the scalability issue arises.
The problem of scalability
Why is so much attention paid to solving the problem of scalability? The number of users is constantly growing, which means that the number of transactions is also growing. In such a situation, the result is obvious – the blockchain begins to “slow down.”
Scaling is divided into 2 types:
1 – on-chain (scaling occurs within the network or, in other words, scaling at the Layer 1 level – L1);
2 – of-chain (scaling occurs at the Layer 2 level, called the L2 solution).
L2 solution allows you to offload the main level of the blockchain without touching the functionality, removing some of the work from L1 and increasing its performance.
There are several L2 solution methods. Here are the ones currently in use:
– Sidechain
– Rollups
– Payment channels
– Plasma
Each type of these methods has its advantages and disadvantages, the need to use each of them is determined depending on the situation, functionality, etc. These methods are rather complicated and require separate analysis.
Summary
It is becoming clear that maintaining the Web 3 infrastructure is a necessary but often difficult process for companies. In such cases, the outsourcing process should come to the rescue as the most acceptable. Such a process will save the company’s financial and time resources and ensure timely and, most importantly, high-quality maintenance of its infrastructure.
