AEP Support Services Proposal for Akash Network

[brewsterdrinkwater]

Motivation

The Overclock Labs Core Team is writing this proposal to help fund the ongoing support and maintenance required to sustain and manage various core Akash Network functions that fall outside of specific development initiatives. Most requests are designed to support specific programs, such as Provider Incentive Pilots (PIPs), while other requests are intended to provide general support across several programs and network-wide activities (i.e. Community Support or Events Proposals).

This discussion is to about supporting Overclock Labs for services that benefit the stability and growth of the Akash Network, but fall outside the bounds of other requests. Services have been broken down into themes, listed below in supported programs.

Budget

For AEP Support Services, Overclock Labs will request $1,328,820.51 from the Community Pool covering the first half of 2025 (January 2025 through June 2025).

H1 2025 AEP Support Services
	Total Cost	Request from CP
Estimated engineering hours	15,771.43	4,285.71
Engineering rate per hour	$98.64	$83.46
Engineering total cost	$1,555,769.43	$357,664.50
Estimated support hours	6,171.43	3,342.86
Support rate per hour	$87.36	$83.52
Support total cost	$539,120.87	$279,201.31
Labor Subtotal	$2,094,890.30	$636,865.81
Operational Overage	$0.00	$0.00
AKT Volatility Buffer (88.4%)*	$1,836,171.35	$558,212.88
Federal tax (USA)	$439,926.96	$133,741.82
Tax, Vol & Overage Subtotal	$2,276,098.31	$691,954.70
Grand Total	$4,370,988.61	$1,328,820.51

*AKT volatility buffer

*This buffer accounts for the historical daily volatility of AKT measured over the last 30 days. By providing a more substantial buffer against potential downswings in AKT, we mitigate the need to request any budget shortfalls through subsequent proposals. In the event of excess funds above the US dollar amount for labor, taxes, and overage, all remaining AKT will be promptly returned to the community. This proposal uses a much lower volatility buffer since the project is completed, and the buffer exists to mitigate price changes during the process of liquidation. *

Supported Programs

Deploy Console Enhancements and Support:

The Akash Deployer Console is the centerpiece of the Akash Network user experience. As this application grows, its infrastructure, backend, and other ancillary areas also require additional resources for support. These include, but are not limited to:

1. Infrastructure support: Facilitate scaling, redundancy, uptime, and general performance.
2. Observability: Ensuring Akash Network customers have the necessary tools to effectively troubleshoot and manage their workloads.
3. Analytics: Ensure business insights and intelligence are captured to ultimately create a feedback loop to drive enhancements in the Console while building attribution that allows the Core Team to assess the efficacy of paid user acquisition strategies.

The ask for Deploy Console Enhancements and Support is approximately $138,390 to cover around 10% of the total cost of the above effort. Budget details and basis of estimate can be located here.

	Total Cost	Total Community Pool Cost
Engineering Hours	6170.4	674.4
Engineering Labor Cost	$657,957.36	$66,326.44
Buffer	$576,699.63	$58,135.12
Tax	$138,171.05	$13,928.55
Total	$1,372,828.03	$138,390.12

Provider Console Enhancements and Support:

With the acquisition of the Praetor Client and its full integration into the Akash Console as the Network’s native provider management platform, Akash now has a fully native experience for our providers. Scaling and managing providers without handholding, thus unlocking the ability to scale the provider base.

1. Technical support during and around SIG-Providers.
2. Solving open issues related to Provider Console from Console repo, Discord, and elsewhere from the Community and users.
3. Support the Akash Network during network upgrades, helping ensure that providers are upgraded quickly.
4. Closely collaborating with providers who are testing functionality and troubleshooting.

The ask for Provider Console Enhancements and Support is approximately $472,925 to cover around 46% of the total cost of the above effort. Budget details and basis of estimate can be located here.

	Total Cost	Total Community Pool Cost
Engineering Hours	5142	2674
Engineering Labor Cost	$488,393.27	$226,659.92
Buffer	$428,076.70	$198,667.42
Tax	$102,562.59	$47,598.58
Total	$1,019,032.56	$472,925.92

Core Technical Support:

The Akash Network’s core codebase is the single largest repository of the Network and requires immense management and support. This spans across core development and support efforts, as well as helping community members, integration partners, and other clients or projects. These include, but are not limited to:

1. Managing and paying for testing and staging instances across the entire core and client engineering teams.
2. Research and Development efforts undertaken to assess the viability of initiatives before they become the Akash Enhancement Proposals on the roadmap.
3. Providing AEP review and feedback at scale to ensure community resources are appropriately allocated and focused, which includes activities such as:
   1. Reviewing demos
   2. Reviewing discussions publicly and privately
   3. Reviewing code publicly and privately

The ask for Core Technical Support is approximately $134,950 to cover around 16% of the total cost of the above effort. Budget details and basis of estimate can be located here.

	Total Cost	Total Community Pool Cost
Engineering Hours	4456.4	943.2
Engineering Labor Cost	$409,418.80	$64,678.15
Buffer	$358,855.58	$56,690.40
Tax	$85,977.95	$13,582.41
Total	$854,252.33	$134,950.96

DevOps Support:

Provider Incentive Pilots 1 and 2 both required the services of a Pilot Program Administrator (PPA) to administer, maintain, and report for the programs. The preponderance of these resources is allocated towards technical administration via the Core Team’s DevOps function to facilitate:

1. Technical administration, technical support, and troubleshooting for PIP providers.
2. Management of a Sandbox environment for testing and exploration.
3. Technical support and troubleshooting for clients who encounter issues with PIP providers.
4. Sig-providers and sig-support active participation
5. Prepare and maintain technical documentation and support for community providers.

The ask for DevOps Support is approximately $388,984 to cover around 80% of the total cost of the above effort. Budget details and basis of estimate can be located here.

	Total Cost	Total Community Pool Cost
Engineering Hours	3085.2	2365.6
Engineering Labor Cost	$233,517.37	$186,429.37
Buffer	$204,677.97	$163,405.34
Tax	$49,038.65	$39,150.17
Total	$487,233.99	$388,984.88

Administrative Support resources:

Administration and support for the entire open-source and open-management framework of Akash Network is a massive undertaking that requires community organization, development and management of frameworks and services, and coordination of inputs between the Akash community and the Akash Core Team, among numerous other functions. Some of these include:

1. SIG, Working Group, and User Group administration, program management, and hosting support.
2. Community development that touches everything from insider office hours to Akash EDU programs.
3. Event management for Akash Network events, encompassing research, planning, and execution.
4. Brand management, such as social media management and engagement, swag design, and booth design and execution.

The ask for Administrative Support Resources is approximately $193,568 to cover around 30% of the total cost of the above effort. Budget details and basis of estimate can be located here.

	Total Cost	Total Community Pool Cost
Engineering Hours	3085.2	977.2
Engineering Labor Cost	$305,603.51	$92,771.95
Buffer	$267,861.48	$81,314.61
Tax	$64,176.74	$19,482.11
Total	$637,641.72	$193,568.67

Limited Market Impact & Transparent Reporting

Limited Market Impact

Overclock Labs will custody the requested funds in a new, distinct wallet so that funds from any other source are not commingled.

All funds will be liquidated and managed in a manner that ensures minimal impact on the market. These funds will be handled with the same care and attention as all previous Community Funding Proposals, with liquidations done in a fashion that will not adversely affect the market. In practice, the effort of this liquidation will add depth to the AKT market for buyers looking to enter.

Please feel free to share any thoughts, questions or other feedback in this discussion thread.