AEP Support Services – Q2 2026 Funding Proposal

[isaac9905]

AEP Support Services – Q2 2026 Funding Proposal

Summary

This proposal secures funding for the ongoing support and maintenance infrastructure required to operate the Akash Network beyond any single AEP development initiative. Covering the Q2 2026 period (April 1 – June 30, 2026), it spans Client operations, provider DevOps, customer support, core codebase upkeep, community coordination, and financial governance — the operational baseline that keeps the network running between milestone releases.

Motivation

With the Console redesign and Console Air (AEP-84), confidential compute (AEP-65 / AEP-83), resource reclamation (AEP-82), and on-chain provider verification (AEP-86) development efforts being completed this quarter, Akash's operational surface area has expanded materially. The network's support infrastructure must scale alongside the protocol and client work delivered in Q2. This proposal secures funding for the ongoing support and maintenance that keeps Akash running beyond any single development initiative — spanning Client operations, provider management, core codebase upkeep, community coordination, and financial governance.

These support services are distinct from the AEP-specific engineering work covered under the Q2 2026 Core Engineering and Client Engineering proposals. They represent the operational baseline required to maintain a production-grade decentralized cloud platform and are grouped into the programs and cost centers described below.

Total Request

For the Q2 2026 AEP Support Services Proposal, Overclock Labs is requesting $620,342 from the Community Pool for labor directly attributable to the support programs for this period, alongside a 44.7% AKT volatility buffer.

	Request from CP
Engineering hours	439.42
Engineering rate per hour	$149.74
Engineering total cost	$65,799
Support hours	3,907.15
Support rate per hour	$92.88
Support total cost	$362,910
Labor Subtotal	$428,709
AKT Volatility Buffer (44.7%)*	$191,633
Total Request	$620,342

*AKT Volatility Buffer — A 44.7% buffer is applied to this request to ensure adequate coverage during an adequate liquidation based on the past 180 days of AKT price fluctuations (applied as of 7/1/26). Any unused buffer during liquidation will be returned.

Budget Breakdown

	Hours	Cost
Core/Client Enhancements & Support	381.42	$52,093.71
As a percentage of total labor budget	8.78%	12.15%
Product/Customer Support	282.86	$30,287.44
As a percentage of total labor budget	6.51%	7.06%
DevOps and Provider Enhancement Support	828.00	$91,669.71
As a percentage of total labor budget	19.05%	21.38%
Administrative Support	822.85	$120,375.51
As a percentage of total labor budget	18.93%	28.08%
Community Support	2,031.44	$134,282.73
As a percentage of total labor budget	46.74%	31.32%

Supported Programs

Core/Client Enhancements & Support

Akash Console is the primary interface for deploying workloads on the network, and the Q2 2026 redesign (AEP-84) — a single stateful configure surface, the split of the crypto-native experience into a standalone Console Air application, and the exposure of confidential compute and resource reclamation directly in Console — significantly expanded its footprint. As Console usage scales, so does the infrastructure, backend, and observability required to keep it reliable. Key support areas include:

• Infrastructure: scaling, redundancy, uptime monitoring, and performance optimization to handle growing deployment volume across the redesigned Console and Console Air.
• Observability: maintaining the tooling customers need to troubleshoot and manage workloads, including log-forwarding integrations.
• Analytics: capturing business intelligence to drive Console enhancements and measure the effectiveness of paid acquisition strategies and trial-to-paid conversion.

Product/Customer Support

A key effort from Overclock Labs over the past six months has been ensuring satisfactory customer experiences across all Console touchpoints. As the network onboards an increasingly diverse tenant base — from individual developers to enterprise teams running production workloads — these efforts are directly attributable to user retention and user support. Key functions include:

• Direct deployment support, billing inquiries, and escrow management assistance across Console and CLI.
• Proactive identification and resolution of user friction points before they escalate to churn.
• Onboarding guidance for new tenants, including environment configuration, resource selection, and provider matching.
• Feedback aggregation from support channels to inform product roadmap prioritization and Console UX improvements.

DevOps and Provider Enhancement Support

The Provider Console is the network's native provider management platform, and the Q2 protocol work expanded what providers must operate — confidential-compute-capable hardware, InfiniBand RDMA fabric for multi-node GPU clusters, resource reclamation, and the on-chain provider verification program (AEP-86). Scaling the provider base while maintaining quality of service requires hands-on DevOps support across onboarding, upgrades, and troubleshooting. The bulk of these resources go toward the Core Team's DevOps function:

• Technical administration, support, and troubleshooting for community providers.
• Sandbox environment management for testing new provider configurations and features, including TEE and InfiniBand-capable hardware.
• Resolving open issues from the Console repo, Discord, and direct community feedback.
• Supporting providers through network upgrades.
• Maintaining and updating provider documentation as new capabilities ship.
• Onboarding and supporting providers through the new verification tiers and confidential-compute attestation flows.

Administrative and Community Support

Running an open-source, community-governed network at Akash's scale requires significant operational coordination. As the ecosystem grows — more AEPs, more providers, more community contributors — the administrative surface area grows with it. Key functions include:

• SIG, Working Group, and User Group administration, program management, and meeting facilitation.
• Community development spanning insider office hours, the Akash Club program, and the Student Ambassador Program.
• Managing relationships between the Decentralized Cloud Foundation, legal counsel, and market makers for the benefit of the Akash ecosystem.
  FinOps functions are equally critical: budgeting, forecasting, cost optimization, financial reporting, and transparent tracking of Community Pool expenditures to maintain accountability. As the network scales its funding proposals, these functions ensure that spending aligns with community objectives and governance standards.

Together, the administrative, community, and FinOps functions form the operational backbone of Akash Network and represent a significant share of the overall support budget.

Conclusion

These support services are what keep Akash running between milestone releases. Console infrastructure, provider DevOps, core codebase maintenance, community coordination, and FinOps governance — none of this is optional at the network's current scale. With the Q2 redesign, confidential compute, resource reclamation, and provider verification now in production, the operational load on every support function is increasing. Continued Community Pool funding ensures the network can absorb that growth without compromising stability or user experience.

Limited Market Impact & Transparent Reporting

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 to minimize market impact. 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.

In some cases, Overclock Labs will use structured market-making (MM) activity to manage funds responsibly. Conversions will take place gradually over defined trading windows rather than through large sell transactions. Spreading activity over these longer windows helps ensure that each trade reduces the likelihood of noticeable price movements and helps maintain a stable market for all participants. This measured approach allows Overclock Labs to meet operational needs while minimizing market impact and supporting steady liquidity within the AKT ecosystem.