Quantum computing is the next evolutionary step in digital space and quantum computers will sooner or later invade it. Post-quantum period particularly becomes an interesting phenomenon to observe because it poses a huge threat to the existing networks in terms of privacy. However, blockchain technology is evolving on equal footing, as a solution to network breaches of the post-quantum era. For businesses, it is not just enough to understand the gravity of the problem but address them in time. Demlabs, an IT solutions provider, based in Russia whose services include blockchain, and cryptographic services, has the vision to empower companies with out-of-box security solutions through their Cellframe network. Analytics Insight has engaged in an exclusive interview with Dmitriy Gerasimov, Founder, of Demlabs.

Give a brief overview of the company's background, specialization, and services.

We are Demlabs and we are located in Technopark, Novosibirsk Akademgorodok, the heart of science and education. In 2004 Dmitry Gerasimov founded Eternal Mechanics, which later transformed into Deus Ex Machine Laboratories (Demlabs). In 2008, after the economic crisis, it was disbanded only to be rebranded in 2016 as Demlabs 2.0. At first, the company worked on outsourced projects for different clients, and a year later it switched to developing its own unique IT products: post-quantum blockchain, a decentralized VPN service, and cryptocurrency. In 2021, the CELL token was released, and now the company is on developing and implementing use cases in life and business.

Describe the disruptive innovation achieved by the company.

Post-quantum blockchain

The Cellframe Network is written in pure C, and the data in it is protected by a post-quantum encryption system. We have implemented two signatures for protection: Crystal Dilithium and Picnic. The users can choose either of them or implement them simultaneously to get multi-algorithm protection for their assets.

The blockchain code is written from scratch without the use of third-party libraries. In addition to standard code testing and auditing, the developers used static analysis with a neural network. This way they were able to avoid common bugs and vulnerabilities in applications written in C. The system is resistant to hacker attacks and inaccessible to quantum hacking algorithms.

Decentralized VPN

KelVPN is a decentralized VPN, that allows you to surf the internet securely thanks to the absence of a central server. All the information flows between the nodes and is encrypted according to the highest Cellframe standards. Therefore, any data passing through KelVPN will remain confidential. Also, unlike many VPN services, we do not collect user data at all.

In addition to privacy, the lack of a central server also affects bandwidth. In KelVPN, Cellframe nodes increase bandwidth, so the quality and speed of connections remain high.

Explain how your innovation disrupts the existing market.

Foreign companies actively and happily block access to cloud services. Through Cellframe Network, we intend to replace cloud services with more transparent, reliable, powerful, and secure fog services. These services are truly decentralized and can't be blocked. The service provider has no access to private data, and the reliability of the fog service is higher than the cloud service. Moreover, the services have flexible pricing to cater to the different needs of various strata of enterprises and users. Fog services solve the "last mile" problem better for the user to get a higher quality network connection. We also provide the entire architecture for fog services. It is a high-performance application, written in pure C using multilevel sharding, which reduces the node requirements to a minimum. The nodes run even on older smartphones. Plus, there's a Python API in a familiar runtime environment, which lowers the entry threshold for developers.

Quantum computers are almost ready to crack blockchain technology – we have created a post-quantum blockchain that is resistant to any attempt at hacking by a quantum computer. Our ecosystem is protected from quantum attacks by Crystal Dilithium and Picnic encryption signatures and supports the implementation of multiple quantum-resistant signatures simultaneously. It is possible to update and add algorithms to it on the fly and (our know-how) we can use several algorithms simultaneously. In addition to the already familiar De-Fi and Game-Fi, we can run our own versions of DropBox, land registry, VPN, CDN, Youtube, etc., built on top of blockchain technology. Cellframe Network provides a platform to build Web3 services from scratch. These services in turn will be able to compete with the likes of Amazon, Google, and Facebook of Web2.

Brief us about the proactive Founder/CEO of the company and his/her contributions

Dmitry Gerasimov is the CEO and CTO of Cellframe Network. He was educated in physics but switched to software development almost 20 years ago.

He is also one of the founders of Demlabs, the parent company of Cellframe Network. He was born and lives in Akademgorodok, Novosibirsk, Russia. Dmitry is the author of all the key ideas for the company's development, and its products, and the author of the vision of the future of the company – what we strive to achieve and where we see ourselves through the years. He is an inspirational leader and, an example for the development team and there is no exaggeration in saying this. He always stands as a reliable source of invaluable information for articles and any publications, for marketing and PR.

Tell us how the company contributes to the market and benefits the clients.

Today blockchain is successfully used by businesses and government agencies to optimize processes and resources. Here is what we 'do' and  'can' do for companies today.

1. Transfer your project to a blockchain platform, ensuring maximum security and data integrity

2. Publish your dApp in our repository and it becomes available to all users

3. We develop for your decentralized and secure analogues of existing services (data storage, messengers, video services, services for contract management and product origin verification, platforms for voting, automated KYC, VPN)

Fog-based services are not only about being able to work without fear of disconnection. It is also about fast response times since the network nodes are physically closer than the cloud server. Another plus is the resiliency of a decentralized system: if a few nodes fail, the rest will pick up their functions. Blockchain is a great way to keep records, track supply chains, etc., a path companies like Disney and Walmart have taken. You can set up your own commercial blockchain based on the Cellframe network. Cellframe is a platform for creating services that provide out-of-the-box solutions. You can earn on our platform, issue your token; create your application (and collect royalties from the transaction), create your parachain, and receive network royalties from all activities within the network. You can also enlist your project for slot auctions to get your own parachain or/and vote for competing projects and get tokens from those projects. And you can also raise a Cellframe node and raise your nebulous service on it, such as a VPN.

 What makes the company innovative? What are the key partnerships and involvements done to drive the innovation?

In general, the company has always been at the forefront of innovation in development and implementation. After all, the topic of blockchain and

cryptocurrency is the most relevant today and will be relevant and developing for a long time to come. However, one of the turning points for Cellframe was the Blockchain Life conference in April 2022 in Moscow, where we participated as a platinum sponsor and presented our project to the audience at the Start-Up Pitch, following which we experienced an explosive rise in interest in our company from different target audiences and communities. These included businesses, investors, traders, and IT companies. After the conference, we have a constant stream of discussions about one partnership or another or the development of a new product based on blockchain. Some of the partnerships we announced don't date back too long. For example, with the Empera blockchain protocol, we are building a parachain on the new Proof-of-Memory (PoM) consensus with commission-free transactions and smart contracts in Java Script. The parachain will be used to bridge with the Empera ecosystem, which envisions a bevy of shared miner-connected independent blockchains based on the new PoM consensus. Each independent blockchain running on this consensus will automatically, natively have built-in bridges to other blockchains in the network. Coupled with our post-quantum encryption technologies, such as parachain, it will be a reliable and stable link in the larger blockchain family. This collaboration takes us one step closer to Web3 applications which function like the cloud applications we are more accustomed to. Also, our partnership opens new opportunities for NFT (Action NFT), which perfectly matches the Cellframe concept, where code and token are separated and can be combined. Add to this the quantum security, and multilevel sharding, and you, like us, will be inspired by the synergy that occurs when our technology and Empera's technology are combined.

For the partnership we announced with QApp, we agreed to implement their post-quantum licensing into our blockchain. We also recently agreed with a company to make a batch of nodes in boxes. This solution is ready and we discuss it periodically at our regular AMA sessions because there was a great interest in it on the part of our community.

Brief us about the challenges and potential drawbacks of your disruptive innovation

The major problem our company faces is typical of any innovation – the need to show people the reality of the problem. What is obvious to us is not always obvious to our audience. Like any innovation, our development needs to be promoted to the masses. We regularly release educational content, so that both app developers and customers can see the benefits of our platform.

How do you see the company/industry in the future ahead?

We are an ecosystem project with blockchain products, with a well-developed programming team structure, strong educational expertise, and personal cryptocurrency wallets. We conduct training for IT specialists, hackathons, and professional and community events, and offer courses.

In the future, we see ourselves next to giants such as Microsoft and Amazon. We want to compete with the cloud services provided by these companies. To be better, more popular, and more accessible to developers and ordinary users is our ultimate goal.

We want to occupy space in people's minds, a place that Ethereum, PayPal, Google, INP (Institute of Nuclear Physics SB RAS), and Schools NSU – educational IT clusters have. We are cloud services, payment systems, and a hybrid of Ethereum and Google, a hybrid of everything the future encompasses.