Additionally, Fleek announced Edge Functions, its first public testnet. This testnet presents the first use case that includes and leverages Content Delivery Network (CDN) and JavaScript Runtime services.

Fleek CEO Harrison Hines explained that most blockchains that provide traditional web services are not performant enough to meet the demands of modern developers and end users.

He added that the aim of the collaboration is to “develop web services that provide real benefits both from a centralization and self-management perspective, as well as in terms of performance, cost and developer experience.”

The press release explained that CDK-powered chains require cloud infrastructure to operate, like all other L2s and Rollups.

Developers’ options are to run the infrastructure directly on enterprise cloud platforms such as AWS or indirectly through RaaS (Rollup-as-a-Service) providers. Even the second option uses cloud platforms like AWS “behind the scenes”.

Using AWS and other enterprise cloud platforms for L2 and Rollup infrastructure works, but is “far from ideal,” according to the announcement. One of the main problems is that it is extremely expensive.

Additionally, there are censorship, deplatforming, security, liability, and other concerns. These issues make the development of meaningful software on corporate-controlled infrastructure “more fragile than most people realize.”

Fleek believes it can help alleviate these problems. The solution is a high-performance, low-cost, completely permissionless, self-managing and more future-proof alternative.

The algorithmic operation of Fleek’s global node network eliminates human factors that account for 75-80% of cloud costs.

It also saves developers time by providing ready-to-use infrastructure without the typical DevOps and maintenance work needed when developing on platforms like AWS. The partners’ goal is to offer an alternative to traditional cloud platforms.

According to the announcement, previous testnet performance trials have proven that the Fleek infrastructure has the potential to outperform traditional cloud platforms.

In a simple edge function test, Fleek’s mean time to first byte (TTFB) - a measurement that indicates the responsiveness of a network - was 37.02 milliseconds.

This means it is 7x faster than AWS Lambda (274.22ms) and 2.7x faster than Vercel Serverless (103.09ms) in global tests.

On the other hand, Polygon CDK is a popular modular, open-source software toolkit for blockchain developers to launch new L2 chains on Ethereum.

It is used by projects such as IDEX, WIREX, Palm Network, Immutable, Astar, OKX and Fuse Network. Additionally, there are “more than 70 other projects in development.”

“Using blockchain to better coordinate, align and incentivize network participants and activity, rather than relying on one company, can lead to greater efficiency – ultimately resulting in better products for users,” the announcement concluded.