Latitude.sh partners with DoubleZero to expand blockchain communication

DoubleZero has set out to make blockchain communication faster and more reliable than ever before, and Latitude.sh is helping them realize their vision for what the future of communication within blockchain networks will look like. 

Heads up, fellow blockchain enthusiasts. Especially for those of you based in London, the game is about to change for the better with the DoubleZero Network, so let's dive right into it.

Meet the DoubleZero Network

DoubleZero is going after one of the most significant pain points in crypto: connectivity. 

While blockchain technology has completely changed how we think about decentralization, the traditional internet on which it runs is arguably stuck in the past. 

DoubleZero’s aim is to address the core issues that make blockchain networks slow and, in some cases, unreliable: limited capacity, spam attacks, and an excess of duplicate data.

What makes them different? Instead of forcing blockchain traffic through regular internet pipes, they're building direct highways between data centers and servers running blockchain infrastructure.

How Latitude.sh is Supporting DoubleZero

Instead of relying solely on the congested public internet to connect nodes, DoubleZero is building a dedicated highway system across the globe by combining unused network capacity that other companies own, but aren’t entirely using.

That’s where Latitude.sh comes in. 

To ensure our core business can properly address the growing needs of platform engineers around the world, Latitude.sh has built a carrier-grade network in each of our locations. In other words, we had to ensure that all our sites had massive amounts of bandwidth so our customers’ operations could grow alongside the increase in their platform’s traffic. 

At our London location, a significant part of this extra bandwidth has been provided to the DoubleZero Network, making Latitude.sh an official contributor for the network on that site.

Here is where it gets more interesting: Latitude.sh has a strong presence in Web3, from customers running high-throughput validators and RPC providers, to the backbone of new DeFi protocols, so partnering with DoubleZero made total sense, as it directly improves the workloads of our customers.

Once we decided to join DoubleZero, we proceeded to the implementation step. It works like this: We integrate new network hardware (commercially available switches and FPGAs) that is DoubleZero compatible into our core network infrastructure at that site.

But this isn't as easy as plugging in a device; we had to engineer how the DoubleZero-compatible switch connects to our existing network topology and design the capacity management to ensure we can deliver that dedicated bandwidth without impacting our regular network operations.

The switch acts as a dedicated gateway for DoubleZero traffic, sitting at our core network level where we aggregate traffic capacity. We've configured it so that servers within our network get prioritized access, while still maintaining public connectivity for external servers that want to reach blockchain networks through our infrastructure.

Blockchain Deserves Better Infrastructure

Most blockchain networks are running on infrastructure that wasn't built specifically for them. Solana and other high-throughput blockchains especially feel the pain when traditional internet routing adds unnecessary delays and creates potential security holes.

This is precisely what DoubleZero seeks to address. They are currently operating in a testnet environment, but once the mainnet-beta network is live, you can expect:

• Direct server-to-server connections, so no more unnecessary hops

• Lower latency and jitter thanks to dedicated network pathways

• Increased bandwidth that resolves the need to deal with public internet traffic jams

• Improved reliability protecting your validator from the randomness and variance of the public internet 

How DoubleZero Works

The DoubleZero network has been purpose-built to optimize blockchain workloads for faster speeds and better reliability through a specific two-ring system architecture that leverages these key components:

Two-Ring System:

• Outer Ring: Acts like security checkpoints that filter out spam, verify legitimate transactions, and block attacks before they reach nodes.

• Inner Ring: Provides ultra-fast, dedicated lanes for clean data to travel between network participants.

Key Components:

• Smart Filtering: Special computer chips (FPGAs) act like super-efficient bouncers, removing junk traffic and only letting legitimate data through.

• Decentralized Infrastructure: Companies contribute their unused fiber links to the network.

• Smart Contracts: Blockchain-based agreements automatically manage who contributes what and ensure fair compensation.

If you want to dive deeper into the technical aspects of the network, check out the DoubleZero website.

What This Means for Users

Just to summarize, these are the real benefits users can expect to see when leveraging DoubleZero:

For Builders and Validators

• Faster communication when talking to other nodes

• Connections that don't go offline during high-traffic periods

• Better security through dedicated blockchain-only pathways

• Your RPC connections and validator operations just work better

For Everyone Else

• The protocols leveraging the network get more resilient through decentralized infrastructure

• We're basically setting a new standard for how blockchain connectivity should work

• More sophisticated blockchain dapps become possible when you can count on consistent, low-latency transactions between nodes

• Better performance for all.

Will It Be Available Elsewhere?

The network is launching at multiple locations across the globe, spanning 26 metro regions in 16 countries, with each location supported by contributors like Latitude.sh.

Regarding our specific contribution to the project, London represents just the beginning of this partnership, with possible new regions to follow based on validator distribution and customer demand.

For Latitude.sh customers looking to utilize the new network in servers at our other sites, we are exploring peering arrangements with other DoubleZero contributors in regions like North America and the EU. More details on this will be announced in the future.

Looking Ahead: The Future of Blockchain Infrastructure

Look, this partnership is about more than just better server connectivity. We're building toward a future where blockchain applications can run on infrastructure that's purposely designed for them. 

Currently, data center connectivity is one of the biggest bottlenecks to blockchain growth, so with DoubleZero, we're not just improving what exists. We're helping rebuild server-to-server blockchain connectivity from the ground up. 

The Web3 industry has always known that infrastructure matters, and finally, we've got network infrastructure that's actually designed for crypto at the physical layer.

For more on DoubleZero, you can check out their official website. And if this is your first time around here, you can create a free account with Latitude.sh right now; it takes only seconds to sign up (and just a few seconds to deploy your instances).

FAQ

1. What exactly is DoubleZero Network, and how is it different from the regular internet?

DoubleZero Network is a new critical infrastructure project that creates dedicated pathways for server-to-server blockchain communication instead of relying on traditional internet infrastructure. Rather than your servers talking to blockchain networks through regular internet routing, DoubleZero provides direct connections between data centers. It's like having a private highway for your blockchain traffic instead of using congested public roads.

2. Do my servers need any special configuration to use this?

Yes, you need to establish a logical connection on each server hosting your blockchain workloads. You can check out the step-by-step instructions on Malbec Labs documentation. If you haven’t spun up a server with Latitude.sh before, we recommend the m4.metal.large for validator nodes, and the rs4.metal.large for RPC nodes.

3. Why London first, and where else will this be available?

London sits in the sweet spot where tons of major blockchain infrastructure and data centers are concentrated (that London-Amsterdam-Frankfurt triangle). Latitude.sh and DoubleZero are already planning expansion to another site in the future, and we're also working on peering deals with other DoubleZero contributors in locations coming live with the mainnet beta launch. For reference, the network will go live with access points in 26 cities across 16 countries.

4. What will I actually notice with my nodes?

Your servers will have faster response times when communicating with blockchain networks, more stable connections during high-traffic periods, and better security through dedicated server-to-server pathways. Basically, your RPC connections and validator operations will be more reliable and perform better at the infrastructure level.

5. Is this only for Latitude.sh customers?

No, the DoubleZero network is open-source and can be leveraged by high performance applications who wants the best network connectivity in Web3. Latitude.sh customers, however, get the full benefits of deploying servers on a direct contributor to the network and can leverage a dedicated bandwidth portion in the London site.