Frontier takes a model familiar to Bitcoiners, and stands it up for our initial release. Frontier is the Ethereum network in its barest form: an interface to mine Ether, and a way to upload and execute contracts. The main use of Frontier on the launch trajectory is to get mining operations and Ether exchanges running, so the community can get their mining rigs started, and to start to establish a “live” environment where people can test DApps and acquire Ether to upload their own software into Ethereum.