Microsoft has announced the availability of Project Bletchley, its Ethereum-based consortium blockchain technology that was first unveiled in June of this year. Being able to set up and run consortium blockchains is a significant step toward creating scalable, next-generation enterprise apps that can employ the best aspects of the blockchain, Microsoft said. Blockchain is the distributed ledger technology used by Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Consortium blockchains are those, according to the Ethereum Foundation’s description, “where the consensus process is controlled by a pre-selected set of nodes. For example, one might imagine a consortium of 15 financial institutions, each of which operates a node; 10 must sign every block in order for the block to be valid.” Consortium blockchain networks can be set up as “public,” meaning they’re accessible to everyone, “restricted” or “partially decentralized.” Bletchley 1.0 is Microsoft’s attempt at helping developers familiarize themselves with private multi-node consortium networks, the company said. According to Christine Avanessians, senior program manager at Microsoft Azure, it’s planning to grow this part of its Azure-based blockchain-as-a-service through strong integration with the rest of its cloud services. “We are ‘releasing early and releasing often’ to provide you with the latest updates quickly and to get your feedback throughout the development of the service,” Avanessian said in a statement. “Keep an eye out for further updates including support for additional Microsoft services, like Azure Active Directory and Key Vault, and other blockchain protocols.” According to Marley Gray, principal program manager at Microsoft Azure Blockchain Engineering, Bletchley 1.0 significantly reduces the time it takes to deploy an Ethereum network. “It reduces the estimated three-week process of setting up a globally distributed multi-node consortium Ethereum network down to 8 questions and 5-8 minutes,” Gray wrote in a blog post. “Not only does Bletchley v1 automate the setup of the network infrastructure but it sets up a portal for rapidly getting started developing applications on Ethereum.” Blockchain technology is exciting lots of companies besides just Microsoft. Just this summer, IBM launched its own secure, cloud-based blockchain service that uses its LinuxONE systems to offer firmware protection that prevents root users and system admins from accessing data. And in August, IBM followed up with the creation of its Industry Platforms business unit that will oversee its blockchain efforts. “The Industry Platforms business will bring clients radically optimized processes and marketplaces that leverage Watson, IBM Cloud, IBM Systems, blockchain, deep domain expertise and ecosystems of partners and developers,” said IBM Chief Executive Ginni Rometty at the time. Show your support for our mission with our one-click subscription to our YouTube channel (below). The more subscribers we have, the more YouTube will suggest relevant enterprise and emerging technology content to you. Thanks! Support our mission: >>>>>> SUBSCRIBE NOW >>>>>> to our YouTube channel. … We’d also like to tell you about our mission and how you can help us fulfill it. SiliconANGLE Media Inc.’s business model is based on the intrinsic value of the content, not advertising. Unlike many online publications, we don’t have a paywall or run banner advertising, because we want to keep our journalism open, without influence or the need to chase traffic.The journalism, reporting and commentary on SiliconANGLE — along with live, unscripted video from our Silicon Valley studio and globe-trotting video teams at theCUBE — take a lot of hard work, time and money. Keeping the quality high requires the support of sponsors who are aligned with our vision of ad-free journalism content. If you like the reporting, video interviews and other ad-free content here, please take a moment to check out a sample of the video content supported by our sponsors, tweet your support, and keep coming back to SiliconANGLE.
Project Bletchley has announced that Microsoft is now available, making the Ethereum-based consortium blockchain technology open for use by developers. Consortium blockchains are designed to be public, restricted or partially decentralised and use a consensus process managed by a pre-selected set of nodes. Bletchley 1.0 allows developers to become familiar with the consortium blockchain process and greatly reduces the time needed to set up a network. The technology will be integrated with Project Bletchley’s Azure-based Blockchain as a Service (BaaS).