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1−:- :~ title/'Arvo vs. Azimuth'
2− sort/'4'
3− ==
4−;>
5−
6−# Arvo vs. Azimuth
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8−Urbit is a project, not a single computer system. It has three components: Arvo, the operating system; Azimuth, the identity system; and Aegean, the pattern for creating software experiences for individual Urbit communities. This document compares the first two.
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10−[*Arvo*](https://github.com/urbit/arvo) is an operating system that provides the software for a personal server. These personal servers together constitute the peer-to-peer Arvo network. To make this network work on the social level, Arvo is built to work with a system of scarce and immutable identities.
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12−[*Azimuth*](https://github.com/urbit/azimuth) is the public-key infrastructure built to be such a system. A suite of smart-contracts on the Ethereum blockchain, Azimuth determines which Ethereum addresses own which Azimuth identities, called _points_. All point-related operations, such as transfers, are governed at this layer. But Azimuth isn't built strictly for Arvo -- it could be used as a generalized identity system for other projects.
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14−These otherwise-parallel systems meet when you want to connect to the Arvo network. Your Arvo personal server, called your _ship_, needs to be able to prove cryptographically that it is who it says it is. This proof comes in the form of a keyfile, derived from your point, that you use to start your ship.
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16−A metaphor might help illustrate the relationship between these two systems: the Arvo network is the neighborhood that you live in; Azimuth is the bank vault that stores the deed to your house.