Limitless Scaling

The Internet Computer (IC) can scale its capacity simply by adding additional nodes to fuel new subnets. Nodes and subnets are added via the Network Nervous System (NNS). In contrast, most other blockchains have transaction limits baked into the protocol (e.g. adding more servers to Bitcoin does not increase its transaction volume) and need cumbersome layers to address scaling.

How It Works

See Internet Computer Dashboard for the scale of the IC.

Subnet Architecture

The Internet Computer Protocol is running on standardized node hardware in independent data centers around the world. The Network Nervous System governance system, scales the network by combining nodes from different data centers to spin up new subnet blockchains.

The Internet Computer's partitioning into subnet blockchains is what allows the network to scale. Each subnet blockchain is capable of processing update and query calls independently from other subnets. This means that the entire network can easily be scaled by simply adding more subnets to the network. For update calls that need to be processed on every node, this method of scaling the network can ensure that more update calls are processed per second. The Internet Computer is capable of adding hundreds of new subnets via the NNS.

For query calls, however, scalability can simply be achieved by adding more nodes to a subnet because these calls are processed locally on one node. The addition of more nodes and subnets to the network ensures web speed and infinite scalability.

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