Ocean Nodes are a vital part of the Ocean Protocol core technology stack. The Ocean Nodes monorepo that replaces the three previous components: [Provider](../old-infrastructure/provider/), [Aquarius](../old-infrastructure/aquarius/) and [subgraph](../old-infrastructure/subgraph/). It has been designed to significantly simplify the process of starting the Ocean stack - it runs everything you need with one simple command.
It integrates multiple services for secure and efficient data operations, utilizing technologies like libp2p for peer-to-peer communication. Its modular and scalable architecture supports various use cases, from simple data retrieval to complex compute-to-data (C2D) tasks.
The node is structured into separate layers, including the network layer for communication, and the components layer for core services like the Indexer and Provider. This layered architecture ensures efficient data management and high security.
Flexibility and extensibility are key features of Ocean Node, allowing multiple compute engines, such as Docker and Kubernetes, to be managed within the same framework. The orchestration layer coordinates interactions between the core node and execution environments, ensuring the smooth operation of compute tasks.
The Ocean nodes provide a convenient and easy way to run a compute-to-data environment. This gives you the opportunity to monetize your node as you can charge fees for using the C2D environment and there are also additional incentives provided Ocean Protocol Foundation (OPF). Soon we will also be releasing C2D V2 which will provide different environments and new ways to pay for computation.
