# Architecture

Altius is built as a modular, high-performance environment dedicated to transaction processing and state management. By decoupling execution from consensus and data storage, Altius creates a specialized vertical stack that optimizes the transition from raw input to finalized network state.

#### External Layer Interaction Overview

The system functions as a specialized processing hub that interacts with various layers of the broader network ecosystem:

* **Data Availability Layer**: Altius ingests transaction batches directly from external data providers.
* **Consensus Layer:** The system provides deterministic execution results, including state roots and conflict sets. Because the process is deterministic, nodes only need to agree on the initial transaction order, as the resulting state is guaranteed to be identical across the network.
* **Settlement Layer**: Upon finalization, the system publishes final state roots and necessary cryptographic proofs for permanent recording.

<figure><img src="/files/Rg8azxKYLEzmmPHGUD7Y" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

#### System Resilience and State Management

The architecture ensures continuous operation through distributed state management. Unlike monolithic databases, the network state is treated as a sharded, distributed database where access is prioritized in high-speed memory for performance, while a cluster of drives provides persistence. Fault tolerance is inherent to this design, as each state shard is replicated across multiple nodes, ensuring that a single point of failure does not result in data loss or system downtime.


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