Q: Hi Navjit! Thanks for you time and for joining our interview. Can you tell us more about yourself and IAGON project?
A: Thanks for having me. A little about myself: I have 2 kids, born in India, raised up in Canada, live and work in Norway. My wife is from Poland. I work in the healthcare field as a dentist. I initially became involved in Blockchain technology in 2012. Have been working since 2015 in finding a secure solution to store medical files using Blockchain technology. The idea was further expanded into Iagon. Today Iagon is building a decentralized cloud service platform that is optimized by AI
Q: Tell us about how you came up with the idea of IAGON.
A: Since 2015 I have been working ideas of how to implement Blockchain technology to store medical files securely. In 2017 I met Dr. Elad Harison through a mutual friend and we further expanded on the idea. Elad, helped me realise that the idea can be adapted to all fields not just the medical field. Elad also implemented the machine learning aspect onto the platform. The idea further developed and we started development of the project in November of 2017.
Q: What do you think is the biggest problem IAGON will solve and why is it important to solve?
A: Securing files, cutting costs, improving reliability and allowing users/businesses to find the best possible solution for their needs.
Q: Tell us more about the Alexandria Protocol, the first decentralized AI Blockchain-enabled smart computing grid technology platform.
A: Alexandria Protocol uses techniques for continuous analysis of the distributed computing performance parameters of miners and optimum resource allocation of peer-to-peer (P2P) Blockchain/DLT networks. There parameters are defined in our Proof of Utilitarian (PoUW), where the Iagon miner nodes need to proof the usage of their spare resources with meaningful computational work (CPU cycles and computer storage), beyond Bitcoin’s Proof-of-Work (PoW), where computing power and energy are wasted without any real utility application.
Complementing the PoUW Proof of Utilitarian Work:
1. Performance
1.1. Latency
1.2 Bandwidth
1.3 Uptime (churn) = availability
2. Price – how much customers will pay, how much miners will earn. Will be added to the marketplace rules
3. Trustability – how trustable is the node. It has to do with uptime, latency, etc…
Q: What can you tell us about the regulations in regards to data processing and mining of data of personal records? We know that there are certain restriction on the collection and processing of personal data including limitations on the free movement and sharing of such data (EU, 2016).
A: Iagon will never have access to any personal records. Only the users that store the files have access to the files with their private key, no one else can gain access to these files. Since the technology is fairly new, it was not taking into account when the GDPR was established. Regardless, Iagon is GDPR complaint.
Q: In your White Paper you mention that IAGON learns through a method known as reinforcement learning. How does that work?
A: This was an initial brainstorming process. We have since, moved on from this and plan to update the investors of the direction when we lay a more detailed plan for machine learning algorithms moving forward. The general idea of the process, is to learn the behavior of each node/miner over time, using different variables. These variables are illustration in our Proof of Utilitarian.
Q: What do you think is the biggest challenge or obstacle IAGON will face? How do you plan to tackle that challenge?
A: The biggest challenge that Iagon faces is adoption, like any other Blockchain project. Many people are still unaware of Blockchain technology and how it works. It is also a steep learning curve for newcomers. No one in the space has perfected this challenge, not even Bitcoin.
The way we can tackle this problem is through education. Education the users, customers, we can give them a better idea of how Blockchain technology works. This will take time and patience. Only then can we approach them to adopt the platform/project.
We plan to target the decentralized space for adoption first, because they are already educated in space. Other groups we can target initially are startup AI companies (they require huge amounts of processing power and we are able to cut costs upwards of 80% compared to AWS), we can also target companies which had data leaks in the near past (provide them with a secure solution).
Q: Where do you expect IAGON to be in a few years in terms of progress and success?
A: We expect Iagon to be leading the charge in the decentralized cloud service space. And when Blockchain technology becomes mainstream, we expect to challenge AWS, Google Cloud, and other big players within the space.
Q: What has been your happiest moment so far working on IAGON? On the flipside, what has been the most painful, or perhaps the most regretful decision you’ve made with IAGON?
A: The happiest moments have been seeing professionals in field of computer science, machine learning, cryptography and mathematics complimenting the idea and vision. When you hear such nice words from people working in the field for years, it’s truly a great experience. This motivates myself and the team even more. These words are worth more than anything.
I most painful part of the project is not being able to spend as much time as I would like with my family. Because the project is demanding, a lot of people to answer, I haven’t had enough time to spend with my wife and kids. My wife has been amazing throughout the project, and without her I wouldn’t have been able to spend so much time on this project. Although I do hear her growling at me from time to time 🙂 (to her defense, she has every right).
Q: Moving on to more personal stuff, what does a typical day in your life look like?
A: I wake up around 7am, not on my own accord, my daughter or son are the first ones awake. My son is either crawling on my stomach or my daughter is up, trying to get wake us up. As we get up together. We make breakfast, get my daughter ready for school. I walk her to school around 8.30am, by wife stays behind with my son.
As I walk back from dropping her to school, I catch up on emails, chats on telegram and missed calls (10 min walk). My wife works as a dental technician. So either one of two things happen when I get back home. My wife goes to work with our son (if I’m really busy) or I stay with my son. If I’m busy, I’m usually in the office, replying to emails, making calls and doing our daily meetings with our team members (usually from 10am to 18.00pm). If I stay with my son, I try to juggle the two things, putting him to sleep, feeding him and working in between (usually from 10am to 14.00pm). If i’m coming home at 18.00pm, I eat and start getting the kids for shower time (they take showers in the evening), and put them to bed around 20.30pm. After that I have more time to answer emails, telegram and make calls.
Of course there is a lot more work that goes on beside that, like thought process, making sure everyone is doing their tasks… etc. I usually go to sleep around 2am, sometimes later. If my wife is coming home at 14.00, I have to wait until she picks up our daughter at 15.00 and then she starts preparing dinner.
During this time, I’m able to squeeze in some work or go to the office. That is a typical weekday. Of course I do have dental clinic as well, fortunately I have other dentists working for me and I’m able to take as much time off as I need. I do head in to the office once in a while to treat my loyal patients. On the weekend, we try to have some family time, going out to eat or to the playground. But for a startup a lot of work and time is needs to be devoted, to be successful.
Q: Can you express one personal opinion of yours about the blockchain? It doesn’t matter if it’s negative or positive, we just want to hear your thoughts on it.
A: Blockchain technology is revolutionary. It will cause disruption in all industries. Of course the evolution of Blockchain will take time, and there be a lot of bumps along the way. Blockchain technology is only the beginning, it will help pave the way for more innovative technologies.
