PiKNiK’s ESPA Makes Way for Web3 Enterprise Storage on Filecoin

We want to highlight all the amazing projects that are using IPFS and Filecoin as their go-to solution for decentralized storage. PiKNiK is a turnkey Web3 storage provider that makes it easy for anyone to store and provide storage in the Filecoin network, without any technical knowledge required.

After noticing a need for enterprise-grade Web3 storage providers in June 2021, the project set out to help startups, data centers, managed service providers, and CTOs become successful members of the Filecoin network through the Enterprise Storage Provider Accelerator. This initiative, sponsored by Protocol Labs, Seagate, and AMD, benefits everyone, from the participants taking in new knowledge and know-how to the end users who will have a more efficient, secure, and robust way to store their data.

The seven-month program consists of three phases that prepare 50 startups as well as existing storage providers or data centers to learn how to independently scale as Web3 storage providers:

A one-week in-person bootcamp with hands-on sessions with experts where participants will receive a FIL loan to familiarize themselves with the Filecoin ecosystem.
A three-month remote internship with weekly online sessions where ESPA will be simultaneously sealing 1PiB Raw Capacity as Committed Capacity.
A three-to-four month remote residency period where participants will go to market independently and use Lotus online deals and Layer 2 tools like Estuary, CIDgravity, BidBot.

At the end of the process they will be able to leverage the untapped storage space available on Filecoin by onboarding large datasets. That is 50 PiBs of storage, 1 PiB each, over the course of a year, where 5-10 percent will be verified data stored by participants.

ESPA is built entirely around the use of Filecoin’s Web3 infrastructure. For PiKNiK, the decentralization of storage providers and the availability of globally diverse and auditable data is a solution to the misaligned incentives of the server-based Web 2.0 storage providers of today. It also sees the added benefits of a flexible open spot market for storage and affordable prices set by independent storage providers bidding for the right to host data. All of which are important considerations for enterprise needs and large datasets.

On February 21st, PiKNiK will launch the first cohort of the ESPA in Las Vegas, Nevada. While applications for this event are closed, there is still time to sign up for the April, July, and October cohorts. For more information, visit the ESPA website or follow the program on Twitter.