PhoenixNode Pre-Registration FAQ
This is an FAQ for the upcoming pre-registrations for those that are interested in running one or more PhoenixNodes, a category of AI compute resource in the Phoenix AI node ecosystem. PhoenixNodes will be available Phoenix community, ecosystem partners, as well as independent operators. Pre-registrations are scheduled to start end of February to first week of March.
For those who are not familiar with the background and context of PhoenixNode launch, refer to the original announcement article:
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the purpose of the pre-registration stage?
The main purpose of pre-registration step is the gauge hardware supply and manufacturing workload for first wave of pre-orders. The information is provided to Bobber.com/JDI, who is the premier AI DePIN hardware provider of PhoenixNode. Other metrics, including average number of nodes per operator, preferred node hosting format, are also collected by Phoenix for ecosystem planning.
2. When will pre-orders be open?
Once first wave of pre-registration ends and once hardware supply preparation is assessed, pre-orders will be open shortly. Given the current planning/timing this will be sometime in March 2024.
3. How will PhoenixNodes be managed?
PhoenixNode operators will be able to connect their nodes to their SkyNet account and manage it directly from SkyNet Control Panel. This would be more or less seamless as users of SkyNet and a large number of Phoenix community already have SkyNet accounts.
SkyNet would be both the gateway for AI usage/demand as well as AI resource and node management.
4. Where do I put my PhoenixNode?
Nodes can be both hosted in any local network (including residential), or in a colocation center. Phoenix will partner with regional colocation centers to provide node operators with facilities that have economies of scale in terms of cost and can streamline the handling and management of PhoenixNodes. Some of these regional partners are established ground-up in partnership with Phoenix and JDI, while others are more established players in the datacenter, telecom and colocation space.
Before official regional colocation partners are available, node operators can either i) run the nodes in their own residential or office local network ii) utilize their own colocation options.
Note that connectivity and bandwidth play a material role in determining node scoring, contribution, and ultimate reward payout. Ultimately, whether to use colocation or not comes down to various factors and expectation of node performance, and convenience factors.
Running a node from your own local network and later sending it to one of the official colocation partners either as they become available or when rewards/payouts become unsatisfactory due to bandwidth and connectivity issues, may become a common route for node operators.
5. Will there be different versions and specs available?
Yes, as the initial version of PhoenixNode is focused on accessibility and low barrier to entry, it focuses on a specific set of machine learning and AI tasks on SkyNet. There will be more versions and specs of PhoenixNode that will be available later on for more computationally intensive AI jobs and processes (see more details below).
6. How many PNs can I manage?
Currently there are no strict guidelines or restrictions, but considering limited production and supply of PhoenixNodes, and the fact that for purposes of ecosystem development would encourage broader opportunity for participation, there may be certain purchase caps that may be set on individual buyers.
This is not to discourage one account managing multiple nodes, but rather to provide a cushion for a sudden influx in demand to allow more people and partners to participate.
7. What sort of tasks will PNs run?
The first iteration of PhoenixNode will focus on certain deep learning, image recognition, time series prediction, and lightweight generative AI tasks. They will not support full-scale LLMs, computationally intensive image generation models, and deep reinforcement learning (AlphaZero).
They will support certain vertical use-case focused machine learning models, and portion of a the AI models available on AlphaNet.
8. Will I be able to mine both PHB and CCD?
Yes, both PHB and CCD will be minable. The proportion of PHB/CCD mined will change overtime (CCD proportion will grow) as node and app ecosystem develops and expands. For more detailed information, stay tuned for the upcoming new Phoenix Whitepaper.
9. When will CCD be circulating?
CCD will be circulating when the Phoenix DAO determines the strategic and market conditions are met, which is likely to occur in 2024. CCD will be available on Phoenix Mainnet, and also have denominations/versions on multiple mainstream Layer 1’s for liquidity/ecosystem factors, including BSC, Solana, and Ethereum, swappable from Phoenix Mainnet.
Stay tuned for more information on CCD. There will be standalone FAQ and technical overview, as well as more info via the new Phoenix Whitepaper.
10. Why can't I hookup my own device to SkyNet? What type of node infrastructure is currently SkyNet running on?
You will be able to, once Phoenix Core Development opens up the feature as a part of SkyNet Global Compute functionality. First wave of node additions, we will prioritize PhoenixNodes for easier specialization of tasks and initial scaling of ecosystem.
SkyNet currently runs on nodes provided by Phoenix DAO organizations as well as infrastructure sourced from our partner ecosystem.
11. What are the incentives and payout structure for PhoenixNode?
There will be detailed information via the new Phoenix Whitepaper, but to give you a rough idea, each node‘s reward structure will depend on the following factors:
Network connectivity and standby (idle) status availability
Workload and tasks routed to the node – this is based on network demand for compatible AI tasks, node overall scoring, geographical region, and other priority measures, such as staking status (see below)
Performance and computational stability – if hardware conditions are functioning normally, this typically can be considered a constant
Distributed compute priority – in the case of a single node hosted in an average connectivity local network, vs a cluster of nodes hosted in a colocation center or local network, the latter will get higher task allocation priority as well as higher node scoring
12. Is staking required to run a PhoenixNode?
Initially staking is not required, but will be optional to score higher on ecosystem participation factor, which is one part of the node scoring system. In short, staking generally will result in higher compute mining rewards for PhoenixNodes (as well as other devices connected to SkyNet).
Note that this would not be regular staking via the Phoenix Staker but Hybrid Staking via SkyNet for node operators. Staking tiers would be relatively low barrier to entry and would correlate with maximum number of nodes operated (not necessarily proportional linearly).
More details regarding SkyNet Hybrid Staking will be unveiled later in Q1 2024.
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