SolanaCDN increases the speed of shred (shard data packets) dissemination by 3.8 times through a global mesh network of over 35,000 nodes, and it is provided as a public product for the Solana network.

Pipe Network announced today the launch of SolanaCDN: a free, open-source Solana validator client integrated with a CDN acceleration layer. SolanaCDN is built on Anza's Agave fork, enabling every Solana validator to leverage Pipe's global coverage of over 35,000 PoP (Point-of-Presence) nodes for faster shred dissemination.

This client is completely free with the CDN acceleration layer. Pipe Network offers SolanaCDN as a public product infrastructure for the Solana ecosystem.

Problems SolanaCDN Addresses

On Solana, validator performance is largely affected by network geographical location. Validators closer to the block producer see shreds earlier and vote faster, thus earning more rewards. Validators in areas with poor connectivity will miss votes even with identical hardware due to slower dissemination, resulting in reduced revenue from leader slots.

SolanaCDN addresses this problem by providing a second, faster path for the transmission of shreds outside the native gossip. Shreds and voting packets will be forwarded through Pipe's global mesh network; this network continuously measures each network path and routes traffic along the currently fastest available path in real-time.

The native gossip still operates at the core; SolanaCDN adds a parallel “fast lane.”

Performance

The dissemination speed of SolanaCDN is 3.8 times faster than standard Turbine: the P50 cross-region latency is about 78ms, whereas the baseline for standard gossip is approximately 300ms.

Before enabling the CDN layer, the client also comes with Pipe's built-in optimizations, ready to use, including:

- Leader-oriented shred merge optimization (Fast Shreds)

- Accelerated snapshot downloads via Pipe's global network

- Real-time ETA recovery progress display during validator catch-up/recovery

Public Product Infrastructure

Faster dissemination has network effects: every validator running SolanaCDN improves the shred transmission across the network, resulting in faster block finalization, fewer forks, and fewer missed slots, benefiting the entire Solana network.

Pipe Network CEO David Rhodus stated: “Validator performance should not be dictated by geographical location. SolanaCDN enables every validator to utilize equally fast infrastructure. The more validators running it, the faster Solana becomes for everyone.”

Technical Design

SolanaCDN is a fully compatible version of the Agave fork. Validators can replace it as a plug-and-play option for existing clients.

The CDN layer is optional and can be enabled with one configuration switch, designed not to participate in consensus (non-consensus): it does not modify block production, consensus logic, leader scheduling, or voting rules. All CDN operations are non-blocking and fail-safe; if the CDN layer is unavailable, validators will continue to operate normally.

Built-in Prometheus metrics and “CDN vs gossip” racing data help operators clearly observe performance variations in their environments.

Availability

SolanaCDN has been released: the source code has been published on GitHub, and the client is now operational on Solana mainnet-beta.

- Website: https://solanacdn.com

- GitHub: https://github.com/pipenetwork/agave-solana

About Pipe Network

Pipe Network is a global edge infrastructure company built on Solana. Its network operates over 35,000 ultra-local PoP nodes worldwide, providing high-speed distributed storage and real-time data distribution. Pipe's coverage network tracks latency, packet loss, and jitter along each path in real-time, routing traffic along the fastest path accordingly.