In a recent team discussion, Tracy Traxler reviewed with DFINITY's technical team the three key milestones achieved by the ICP protocol in 2024 during the construction of the 'Internet Computer'—speed, storage, and simplification. Each breakthrough significantly enhanced the developer experience while laying the groundwork for future developments.
Accelerating user experience: significantly reduced response times
Tracy pointed out that the team has reduced the average response time of the system from 2.5 seconds to 1.3 seconds by optimizing network code and storage architecture, almost eliminating the latency perceived by users. This improvement has made the user experience smoother and interactions more instantaneous. The introduction of boundary nodes and the optimization of communication mechanisms played a key role in providing faster and more stable network connections for global users.
Storage expansion: paving the way for future complex applications
In terms of storage, ICP's breakthroughs are particularly noteworthy. The storage capacity for smart contracts has significantly increased from an initial 4GB to 500GB, and the upload speed has also surpassed 6MB per second. This means developers can run more complex applications on-chain, handle more data, and enjoy more efficient data transmission at lower costs.
Simplifying the developer experience: lowering barriers, increasing efficiency
To attract more developers, the ICP team has also introduced snapshot and logging features in the system. Yan explained that the snapshot feature allows developers to easily create restore points when upgrading smart contracts, avoiding the risk of data loss. Persistent error logs simplify the debugging process, helping developers quickly identify and resolve issues. These innovations greatly lower the development threshold, enabling more novice developers to get started smoothly and contributing to the expansion of the ecosystem.
Higher scalability and lower costs: empowering global applications
The subnet architecture of the ICP platform enhances the system's scalability. Manu mentioned that the flexibility of subnets allows network capacity to dynamically expand according to demand while maintaining low costs. Compared to traditional cloud computing platforms, ICP not only reduces the need for content duplication but also improves overall efficiency through optimized storage structures. This series of improvements allows more and more global software to run on the ICP platform, providing users with more competitive solutions.
Looking ahead: more milestones, more innovations
Despite a series of achievements, Tracy emphasized that the DFINITY team is continually pushing for technological advancements. The year 2025 will be a pivotal year, as the team continues to expand the computing capabilities of the ICP protocol, committed to promoting the global development of the 'Internet Computer'. At the same time, the team encourages developers and users to provide valuable feedback to collaboratively enhance the technology.
Although significant progress was made in 2024, the future of ICP remains full of challenges and opportunities. By continuously optimizing performance, expanding storage, and simplifying the development process, ICP is gradually moving closer to its grand vision of becoming a global decentralized computing platform.