By Tobi Loba
As published by the IOHK on its official website some hours ago, the new Cardano (ADA) Node, Explorer Backend, and Web API have been released.
As the report stated, there have been preparations over the past 18 months in the building of a new architectural foundation that will get the Cardano network ready for Shelley mainnet and Goguen, which are expected to bring in third-party developers and enterprise adoption.
Changes to Expect
As shared by IOHK, the changes will start with the Ouroboros update to Ouroboros BFT (Byzantine Fault Tolerance), which has been scheduled to play out on 20th February 2020.
Presently blockchain production of Cardano (ADA) is still being housed by the old implementation. Such is expected to change once the update to Ouroboros BFT takes place.
This will allow the migration of core nodes that create blocks. However, Daedulus users won’t be able to upgrade until the compatible wallet backend is available.
Why the Release is Necessary Now
Going by the report, the original implementation of the network node launched in September 2017 has successfully borne the network to a reasonable extent.
So, in order to improve the functionality and get the system ready for Shelley and provide a solid foundation for Goguen with other releases to come later, a new architecture is needed.
The new update is majorly for the improvement of Cardano’s design, and it’s expected to make the integrations ahead easier and allows the nodes to be more readily incorporated into other systems.
In the new design, the node, wallet, and explorer exist separately. The report also added that a new wallet backend release is imminent.
The Significant Achievement of the New Implementation
This new implementation is particularly targeted at achieving the separation of the consensus layer and ledger rules. This implies that the ledger rules can be changed without changing consensus.
In this regard, only the ledger rules will be changed after the transition into Shelley to Goguen, which will make the execution of deployments more effective and the addition of new features more frequent.
Some benefits of the new implementation should be expected immediately, while others will surface later.
The new implementation and Ouroboros BTF will as well lead to notable transactions per second (TPS) performance improvements. For more information about Cardano Explorer Backend and Web API, check the release notes.
In conclusion, this new release is meant to prepare Cardano (ADA) for what is upcoming. Ensuring the readiness of architecture and network apparatus is much necessary.