# Protocol Components The protocol has 4 components or 4 pillars of the Intract Protocol 1. Data Ingestion Engine (DIE) 2. Encrypted Storage Service (ESS) 3. Trusted Execution Cluster (TEC) 4. Secure Access Management (SAM) Each of these component/layer is developed to be independent of each other so that each of them could be upgraded and enhanced independently based on the requirements of use cases. Network participants can choose which layer they want to support. Also decoupling these things means better security for the user as the power that resides in the protocol is also distributed across components and they each ensure each other's security. Read more about each component in coming sections. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://build.intract.io/protocol-overview/protocol-components.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.