Fleek Network 2024 Mid-Year Update: First Half Achievements & Second Half Roadmap

As we reach the midpoint of 2024, Fleek Network continues to make significant strides in our mission towards building a high performance, edge-optimized onchain cloud platform.

The first half of the year has been very productive,  and substantial advancements have been made on the protocol. While some of our accomplishments you might have heard about like the testnet performance results and the release of Fleek Functions, much of the progress was less visible. We’re excited to share key development highlights from the first half of 2024 and unveil our roadmap for the second half of the year, including an updated timeline for mainnet.

Fleek Network 1H24 Highlights

Two of the biggest highlights from the first half of the year were the:

• Testnet results showcasing Fleek Network deployed edge functions average global TTFB of 37.02ms (including the TLS handshake), 7x faster than AWS Lambdas, and 2.7x faster than Vercel Serverless in global testing.
• Fleek Function release showcasing edge-optimized serverless functions, the first product built on Fleek Network, and actively running on the testnet.

In addition to those more public facing highlights, there were many internal development highlights in the first half of 2024, including:

JavaScript Runtime Improvements

Our focus on developer experience has led to several key improvements in the Fleek Network JavaScript runtime environment. For example, we added native Node module polyfils, which significantly reduces function bundle sizes and improves compatibility with existing codebases. This change allows developers to bring more of their projects over to Fleek Network with minimal friction.

We've also overhauled how our network handles HTTP requests and responses. Now, the entire HTTP request is forwarded to function calls, giving developers more control over routing and data parsing. Additionally, we've made HTTP responses fully customizable from within JavaScript functions, opening up new possibilities for creating dynamic, responsive applications.

Key improvements include:

• Native Node module support
• Full HTTP request forwarding
• Customizable HTTP responses
• Upcoming Fleek Network plugin for popular bundlers
• Custom module importer

Performance Improvements

Performance optimizations are constantly being researched and developed at Fleek Network, and our 1H24 optimizations yielded very positive results. By addressing memory management issues, we've managed to increase the number of requests a node can handle by a factor of ten. We've also improved how nodes synchronize after going offline, making network disruptions nearly imperceptible.

Notable 1H24 performance optimizations:

• 10x increase in node request handling capacity
• Improved node synchronization
• Numerous bug fixes and optimizations (full commit history available on our GitHub)

Node Operator Improvements

We continue to make quality of life improvements for node operators and the experience running nodes. These improvements give more control over node operations and contribute to a more diverse and resilient network:

• Kernel-level packet filtering system using EBPF
• New admin panel for intuitive node management
• Configurable RPC settings for resource allocation

Internal Tooling & Testing Improvements

While much of our work is visible to developers and node runners, we've also made significant improvements to the internal tools and libraries. A few highlights are:

• Reworked the dependency injection library
• Redesigned the node shutdown handling system
• Enhanced the testing infrastructure.

Fleek Network 2H24 Preview

As we move into the second half of 2024, our focus is set on fully completing the mainnet V1 version of the protocol, and preparing for a mainnet launch in Q125. We're aiming to run a mainnet-ready official testnet sometime in Q424, which would include every aspect of the protocol that would be present for mainnet, including pricing and economics (testnet versions), all external node operators, and all mainnet-ready core protocol components and services.

While mainnet V1 work is being finished in 2H24 we will continue running the current Fleek Network testnet infrastructure and add new functionality that developers can already use; this usage will just be migrated to the official Fleek Network testnet once it's live.

Key focus areas for 2H24

1. Refining the JavaScript service
2. Integrating delivery acknowledgements into the protocol
3. Releasing first open source implementation of a Fleek Network gateway
4. Integrating the economic system (FLK staking, USDC payments, etc.)
5. Developing the Service Task Broker for inter-service communication
6. Introducing additional services (different compute options besides JavaScript functions)
7. Opening the network to third-party node operators
8. Implementing SGX for private onchain compute capabilities (env variables, secrets, private keys, etc.)
9. Developing state merklization and Ethereum testnet integration
10. Code freeze and audits

Node Operator Update

We know there have been a lot of questions regarding when external node operator involvement will resume, so below is an updated game plan and roadmap.

• August 2024: Official Node Operator Info & Signup Begins
• Sept-Nov 2024: Initial onboarding and testing with Node Operators
• Nov-Dec 2024: Official Testnet launch, including external node operators
• Q424-Q125: Official Testnet is live, more traffic being onboarded to the network
• Q1 2025: Mainnet launch

Plenty of communication will be sent out ahead of time and throughout the several month onboarding process leading up to official testnet launch, so don’t worry. Anybody who would like to become a Fleek Network node operator will have plenty of time to express interest, understand the requirements, and participate in the process.

Stay Updated

That’s all for now. To stay up to date with our latest developments:

• Join our Discord community: [https://discord.gg/fleek]
• Follow along on Twitter: [@fleek @fleek_net]
• Check our GitHub repo: [https://github.com/fleek-network/]

Thanks for the continued support, we’re super excited for the second half of 2024.

The Fleek Network Team ⚡