Monthly Update: Syntropy in October

Seeking to improve transparency and communication with our community, we are bringing back the monthly updates. It will provide a general insight into the inner workings and developments of several departments in our team. As a disclaimer, we would like to highlight that everything shared in the monthly updates is subject to change, experience delays, or be completely scratched. That being said, let’s see in better detail what we achieved last month.

Major topics include:

• DARP & Engineering
• Research & Development
• Capacity Europe 2022
• Syntropy Ambassadors
• Syntropy Stack

The next-generation DARP utilizes a different path-finding algorithm to make it possible to scale to millions of internet paths. Instead of each node pinging each other back and forth, resulting in a matrix-like database, nodes communicate with each other using pulse groups. The result is just as effective path-finding without the drastic network load.

While this is the optimal approach to the protocol, it brings up the challenge of creating a front-end visualization of next-gen DARP that is just as engaging and impressive as the old DARP matrix we all know and love.

The front-end team is focusing on finalizing and executing this in the coming months, and the Syntropy community will be exclusively invited to try it out.

The back-end team has been working on SDN to help with current scalability. We have tested our existing network and technology with large-scale networks scaling up to millions of connections. The SDN is close to being completely rewritten in GO language, and we no longer have Python code in production. The GO language is more suited for this use case and will enable our engineers to work more productively on the SDN as we have a dedicated GO engineering team. The agent team is also preparing for a new 0.7.0 agent release which will include scalability and stability improvements.

Topology work has been initiated, and it will allow the Syntropy network to have tags associated with specific machines and manage them as per demand. This is a critical upcoming addition as it will enable the categorization of various nodes to specific network levels based on performance, reputation, and other variables. Network clients will be able to choose different level networks to suit their demands, allowing for more predictable network performance. Subsequently, this will lower the minimum requirements for DARP nodes, enabling fair and equal participation for all in the future.

In addition to next-gen DARP front-end visualization, the team is preparing to install the next-gen path-finding protocol into current SDN nodes. This will allow both protocols to run subsequently and perform data analytics. We will launch the visualization for next-gen DARP after.

Research & Development

Speaking of analytics and data, we have hired and onboarded a new data scientist to the Syntropy team this month. Our data scientist will be working full-time in analyzing data produced by DARP. In addition, we have scaled up our operations to the amount of DARP data we collect and committed to database optimizations in preparation. This will grant us better and more extensive insight into DARP and enable us to share more data publicly, like how many direct outages were prevented, where DARP is most effective, analyzing latency in-depth, and other insights.

The research and development team has been working intensively at scaling DARP use case testing. It ranges from large-scale network testing with up to millions of connections, conducting a blockchain network proof-of-concept, and trying to improve the GOSSIP Protocol at its core. We are also in the final stages of committing to a blockchain framework that will be home to Syntropy blockchain, bringing new winds to the Amber Chain and staking. We are excited for the first bandwidth transactions on the blockchain, paving the way for the Open Bandwidth Exchange to thrive.

Our take on Capacity Europe 2022

Our Partnerships Manager Gustas and Developer Advocate Beata visited Capacity Europe 2022 in London a few weeks ago and are enthusiastic about sharing their insights with the Syntropy community.

Gustas’ personal take on the conference:

This is Europe’s largest telecoms networking conference, where global and regional companies gather in one place to find new clients and strategic partners with common objectives. One of such objectives came to light in a panel, “Driving telecom market standardization in blockchain”, where the CEO of PCCW Global, Marc Halbfinger, discussed essential steps that need to be taken to innovate the telecoms’ global industry using blockchain technology.

Adopting blockchain technology for roaming settlement, identity security, and fraud prevention is critical to overcoming and preparing for future security challenges. Through the eyes of globalization, Syntropy is a strong use case for innovation in this mature industry.

Together with Marc , we discussed how bandwidth could be traded on-demand using blockchain as a settlement layer. Marc has been pleased with our current collaboration on OBX. He was very thoughtful and shared meaningful advice:

“Every player in this industry must align on the new system if that must become a global reality. Yes, it presents challenges like challenging the status quo and getting everyone on board. Many will push back. I love what you’re doing. The tougher the journey, the sweeter the destination, right?”  — Marc Halbfinger, CEO @ PCCW Global

Syntropy is challenging the status quo and will become the new standard for bandwidth to be traded on demand in the industry through the adoption of Open Bandwidth Exchange. It has to be pushed forward with innovators like PCCW Global and many others. Together, we can be an unstoppable force bringing the future closer to reality.

With that in mind, our team had successful meetings with global and regional service providers. The best part is that most of these meetings were fruitful, with follow-up meetings planned in the coming weeks. Our team was deeply moved by people who saw our efforts as revolutionary steps needed to accommodate a better future for our global communications industry — even calling our vision “GENIUS”.

Every meeting has been an opportunity to drive more exposure for Syntropy and generate more momentum for OBX to become an industry standard for global communications.

Beata's impressions of the conference:

We live in times of dynamic changes in many different ways for industries such as telecommunications. Participating in one of the biggest conferences for telecommunication opened my eyes to a different perspective - as a tech person, I can see many challenges, and I finally understand those challenges from an additional layer. It was a great adventure - meeting fascinating people, showing and explaining to them the idea of Syntropy, and how we can become the revolution for the telecom industry. It was a very productive time. I've learned a lot and had the opportunity to look at Syntropy from different perspectives.

Syntropy Ambassadors

Our Ambassador program has been revamped last month, kick-starting with our very own marketing initiative. During October, ambassadors have been incentivized to compete against one another by writing the best Twitter content, ranging from single tweets to tweet storms. We are happy with the performance of our marketing ambassadors and are looking forward to taking the marketing campaign to the next level in November.

Check out some notable tweets from our ambassadors last month:

We are also eager to announce that we are once again opening up ambassador applications. Over the years, ambassadors became our dearest believers and true evangelists. Syntropy community team are thrilled with the ambassador program, and with all the recent updates they did for it to ensure maximum quality, it’s time to scale it up. If you are interested in becoming a Syntropy ambassador, fill in the ambassador application form here, and we will reach out to you.

Syntropy Stack

Last month Syntropy Stack received a simple yet essential update. Using Syntropy Stack, you can now enable/disable the services on a specific connection in bulk. Head to the Connection section and pick the connection with services. Tick the services you want to enable/disable, then click the Apply Changes button at the bottom of the table.

The update also features connection status improvements and quality-of-life changes. Our team has been tailoring the product to better align with upcoming features, and we hope these aesthetic and functional updates will also improve your Syntropy Stack experience today.

The next Syntropy Stack release will bring Traffic Analytics, allowing more insight into your network. Not only will you be able to access in-depth data analysis in real-time, but you will also examine changes in-detail to routing changes, path performance, latency, jitter, and more after the fact.

Our product team has been hard at work overhauling our documentation and creating a knowledge hub for everything related to Syntropy. You will be able to find all the necessary Syntropy Stack documentation, Web3 whitepapers, technology explainers, and more all in one place.

The most recent AMA

While not precisely in October, Syntropy CTO Jonas, Paulius, Mikas, and Marijana from the tech team appeared on Crowdcast and gave a deep update into everything that has been happening at Syntropy’s technology side the past few months. We encourage you to tune in if you are still striving for more information.

Syntropy Team Blitz

We are introducing a new Syntropy Team Blitz section to bring the Syntropy team closer to the community. Every month, we will interview someone from the team and ask several questions to understand their way of thinking and get insight into what keeps them busy.

This time, we are excited to kick this initiative off with Kristina Matule! Let’s jump straight into the Blitz interview.

Q: What are you responsible for at Syntropy?

A: I look after People, Talent, and Culture at Syntropy. What does it mean? It’s a pretty awesome and definitely gratifying job; I get to create a culture where people feel belonging, even if we are a remote-first company. I get the chance to coach and mentor team leaders so they can foster healthy team dynamics and enable their team members to do their best job. Also, I help to develop new skills through different training, such as giving feedback, so people can help each other grow and simply communicate better. Overall this role is a bit of a “helicopter” where I fly around from one side to the other, then zoom out and see the whole picture, then do a diagnostic to learn how we can foster a culture, where people feel safe and empowered to do their job, and have fun!

Q: What excites you most about Syntropy?

A: Product and people! We have a really great bunch of people who are not only great at what they do but also at how they are! We have a truly caring culture where we feel safe to be our authentic selves. We are encouraged to say, “I am not ok today”  in case we are and get all the support!

Q: How to stay human in these demanding times?

A: First - having clear boundaries, especially with work, respecting your work and personal time. There is no such thing as work-life balance; it’s more work-life integration, so I believe we should be cautious about integrating one into the other and be aware of how to do it. Also, I recommend each day to ask yourself - what could I do for myself today that would bring me joy? It can be from having coffee in a favorite coffee place, giving a call to a friend, or finally signing up for those pole dance classes you always wanted. Every little attention to yourself and your needs - adds up to feeling more mentally well.

Syntroopers, thank you for supporting us throughout the journey!

You can reach our community managers anytime through our Telegram and Discord channels. We are always pleased to hear from you and appreciate all the feedback you provide.