research block chain - Paper Answers

Industry experts believe blockchain is a technology that has the potential to affect the business of most IT professionals in the next five years. Pick an industry you feel will be most affected by blockchain and how blockchain may be used in that industry. As an IT manager, how would you embrace blockchain? For instance, how would training occur for your team, what strategies might you use, what security methods may you recommend be used?

Your paper should meet the following requirements:

• Be approximately 2-3 pages in length, not including the required cover page and reference page.

• Follow APA6 guidelines. Your paper should include an introduction, a body with fully developed content, and a conclusion.

• Support your answers with the readings from the course and at least two scholarly journal articles to support your positions, claims, and observations, in addition to your textbook. The UC Library is a great place to find resources.

• Be clearly and well-written, concise, and logical, using excellent grammar and style techniques. You are being graded in part on the quality of your writing.

Tarzey, B. (2019). Inside Blockchain and Its Various Applications. Computer Weekly, 16-20. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=shib&db=f5h&AN=138681123&site=eds-live
Carson, B., Romanelli, G., Walsh, P., & Zhumaev, A. (2018). Blockchain beyond the hype: What is the strategic business value? McKinsey Quarterly, (4), 118–127. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=shib&db=buh&AN=133693412&site=eds-live

Title:

Authors:

Source:

Document Type:

Subject Terms:

Abstract:

Author Affiliations:

Full Text Word Count:

ISSN:

Accession Number:

Database:

Record:

Blockchain beyond the hype: What is the strategic business
value?

Carson, Brant
Romanelli, Giulio
Walsh, Patricia
Zhumaev, Askhat

McKinsey Quarterly. 2018, Issue 4, p118-127. 10p. 1 Color
Photograph, 1 Diagram.

Article

*BLOCKCHAINS
*DECENTRALIZATION in management
*TRANSPARENCY in organizations
*BUSINESS models
*COST control
*STRATEGIC planning

The authors discuss their study on the strategic business
value of blockchain to major industries. They described a
structured approach that companies can follow to examine
blockchain strategies. The core advantages of blockchain are
decentralization, cryptographic security, transparency, and
immutability. It is said that the value of blockchain will shift
from driving cost reduction to enabling entirely new business
models and revenue streams.

Partner, McKinsey’s Sydney office
Associate partner, Melbourne office
Consultant, Melbourne office.

2881

0047-5394

13369341

Business Source Premier

Blockchain beyond the hype: What is the strategic business value?

Blockchain can generate meaningful value for many companies. The key is figuring out what
strategy makes sense, given your customers’ pain points and your company’s market
position
Blockchain is all the rage. Bitcoin-the first and most infamous application of the technology-has
grabbed headlines for its rocketing price and volatility. Predictions such as the World Economic

1
2

3
1
2
3

Page 1 of 8UC MegaSearch

10/26/2019http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/delivery?sid=8dc22675-4fdf-488e-afce-023afbccdded%40…

Forum survey suggesting that 10 percent of global GDP will be stored on blockchain by 2027 have
inspired government task forces, breathless press reports, and a multitude of conversations at
Davos and in corporate conference rooms.[ 1]

Tellingly, large investments are being made. Last year, venture capitalists put more than $1 billion
into blockchain start-ups.[ 2] Initial coin offerings (ICOs), the blockchain-backed sale of
cryptocurrency tokens in a new venture, raised $5 billion in 2017. Leading technology players are
putting money and people into blockchain: IBM has invested $200 million and more than 1,000
employees in the blockchain-powered Internet of Things (IoT).[ 3]

Yet the fact remains that blockchain is an immature technology with a nascent market and no clear
recipe for success. No wonder many corporate leaders are asking themselves a lot of questions. Is
blockchain a disruptive threat? Is it a fad? Most importantly, can blockchain have strategic value for
my company?

To help answer these questions, we embarked on an industry-by-industry analysis of existing
blockchain strategies, interviewing a range of experts including the executives overseeing these
efforts at a number of companies. We evaluated the strategic importance of blockchain to major
industries and identified who can capture what type of value through what type of approach. Our
research led us to three key insights on the strategic value of blockchain:

• Blockchain does not have to be a disintermediator to generate value.

• Blockchain’s short-term value will be predominantly in reducing cost.

• Commercially viable blockchain solutions deployed at scale are three to five years away for most
companies.

In this article, we’ll explain how we arrived at these insights and we’ll describe a structured approach
companies can follow to evaluate blockchain strategies. Some organizations may discover ways to
extract value from blockchain in the short term. Dominant companies may discover even more: if
they are willing to invest now to establish their blockchains as market solutions, they can cement
their leadership and forestall the incursion of disruptive digital natives.

WHAT IS BLOCKCHAIN?
Blockchain is not synonymous with Bitcoin, which is just one cryptocurrency application that uses it.
Blockchain is a distributed ledger, or database, shared across a public or private computing network.
Each computer node in the network holds a copy of the ledger, so there is no single point of failure.
Every piece of information is mathematically encrypted and added as a new “block” to the chain of
historical records. Various consensus protocols are used to validate a new block with other
participants before it can be added to the chain. This prevents fraud or double spending without
requiring a central authority. The ledger can also be programmed with “smart contracts,” a set of

Page 2 of 8UC MegaSearch

10/26/2019http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/delivery?sid=8dc22675-4fdf-488e-afce-023afbccdded%40…

conditions recorded on the blockchain, so that transactions automatically trigger when the conditions
are met. For example, smart contracts could be used to automate insurance-claim payouts.

Blockchain’s core advantages are decentralization, cryptographic security, transparency, and
immutability. It allows information to be verified and value to be exchanged without having to rely on
a third-party authority. Rather than there being a singular form of blockchain, the technology can be
configured in multiple ways to meet the objectives and commercial requirements of a particular use
case. Indeed, our research focused on more than 90 discrete use cases of varying maturity for
blockchain across industries. To clarify this variety of applications, we structured use cases into six
categories across blockchain’s two fundamental functions: record keeping and transacting. Some
industries have applications across multiple categories, while others concentrate on one or two.

Blockchain’s disruptive potential lies partly in its technology, which eliminates the need for an entity
to be in charge of managing, storing, and funding a database. A public blockchain, such as Bitcoin,
has no central authority. This peer-to-peer model can become commercially viable due to
blockchain’s ability to compensate participants’ contributions with “tokens” (application-specific
cryptoassets), as well as with a stake in any future increases in the value. As a result, public
blockchains can foster total disruptive disintermediation. However, as we explain in the following
section, smart incumbent companies willing to engage with blockchain now can use the technology
to prevent disintermediation.

THREE BLOCKCHAIN TRUTHS TO HELP SHAPE YOUR STRATEGY
Incumbents looking to defend against disintermediation-or to go on the offensive themselves-should
start by understanding three key insights.

‘Permissioned’ blockchains generate value and ward off disintermediation
The commercial model that is most likely to succeed in the short term is a different kind of
blockchain, a “permissioned” one, with controlled access and editing rights (exhibit). In this model,
participants can benefit from securely sharing data while automating control of what is shared, with
whom, and when. Equipped with meaningful transparency and fraud controls, these permissioned
blockchains help existing companies reduce the complexity and cost of multiparty transactions. It’s a
way for incumbents to harness blockchain rather than be overtaken by it. Dominant players can
maintain their positions as central authorities or join forces with other industry players to capture and
share value.

Permissioned blockchains allow companies to develop distinctive value propositions in commercial
confidence, with small-scale experimentation preceding scaled executions. At the Australian
Securities Exchange, for example, a blockchain system is being deployed for equities clearing to
reduce back-office reconciliation work for its member brokers.[ 4] IBM and Maersk Line, the world’s
largest shipping company, are working together to create a blockchain platform that would provide
traders with a secure, real-time exchange of supply-chain data and paperwork.[ 5]

Page 3 of 8UC MegaSearch

10/26/2019http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/delivery?sid=8dc22675-4fdf-488e-afce-023afbccdded%40…

The potential for blockchain to become a new open-standard protocol for use cases such as trusted
records, identity, and transactions offers incumbents a powerful safeguard against disintermediation.
Industry players greatly reduce the aperture for radical new entrants by learning to extract value
from blockchain, especially if that value benefits customers. The degree to which incumbents adapt
and integrate blockchain technology will determine its disruptive force in their industry.

In the short term, blockchain’s strategic value is mainly in cost reduction
Initially, blockchain will drive operational efficiencies. It takes cost out of existing processes by
removing intermediaries and rationalizing administrative processes such as record keeping and
transaction reconciliation. In the cases we analyzed, approximately 70 percent of the value at stake
in the short term was in cost reduction.

Certain industries’ fundamental functions are inherently more suited to blockchain solutions. The
core functions of financial-services firms, for example, such as verifying and transferring financial
information and assets, align closely with blockchain’s core transformative impact. This explains why
approximately 90 percent of major Australian, European, and North American banks are already
experimenting or investing in blockchain. Governments, too, can reap considerable savings by
putting key record-keeping and verifying functions onto blockchain infrastructure. From birth
certificates to taxes, blockchain-based records and smart contracts can simplify interactions with
citizens and increase data security. More than 25 governments are actively running blockchain pilots
supported by start-ups. In healthcare, blockchain applications could unlock the value of data
availability and exchange for providers, patients, insurers, and researchers. Blockchain-based
healthcare records can improve administrative efficiency and give researchers access to the
historical, patient-identity-protected data sets crucial for advancements in medical research.

Significant, scaled commercial applications are likely three to five years away
Over time, the value of blockchain will shift from driving cost reduction to enabling entirely new
business models and revenue streams. One promising use case is the creation of a distributed,
secure digital identity. This could be helpful for individuals and lucrative for companies, which could
customize services to people who grant them access in ways we can’t imagine now. But these kinds
of new businesses are more of a long-term possibility than a nearterm reality. Why? Because time is
needed for four key factors to mature: standards and regulations, technology, asset digitization, and
ecosystem.

Common standards must be developed. The lack of common standards and clear regulations can
be a major limitation on the scalability of blockchain applications. When cooperation between
multiple players is necessary, establishing such standards is as complex as it is critical. Industry
consortia, such as the 70-bank group that collaborated to develop the financial-grade open-source
Corda blockchain platform, will be needed to establish common standards. That kind of work is time-
consuming.

Page 4 of 8UC MegaSearch

10/26/2019http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/delivery?sid=8dc22675-4fdf-488e-afce-023afbccdded%40…

Thankfully, regulators are generally engaged rather than opposed or unaware. The US Securities
and Exchange Commission, for example, is bringing ICOs under the agency’s regulation and into
the mainstream.[ 6]

Technology must advance. The immaturity of blockchain technology is a major concern for
companies today. Organizations need a trusted enterprise solution, particularly because they may
not realize the cost benefits of blockchain until their old systems are decommissioned. Currently, few
startups have sufficient credibility, technology stability, or industry expertise for government or
industry deployment at scale. Major technology players are positioning themselves to address this
gap with blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) offerings in a model similar to cloud-based storage.

Assets must be digitally connected. Assets such as equities, which are digitally recorded and
transacted, can be simply managed end to end on a blockchain system or integrated through
application programming interfaces (APIs) with existing systems. However, connecting and securing
physical goods to a blockchain requires enabling technologies like IoT and biometrics. This
connection can be a vulnerability in the security of a blockchain ledger.[ 7] While the blockchain
record might be immutable, the physical item or IoT sensor can be tampered with. Certifying the
chain of custody of commodities such as grain or milk, for example, would require a tagging system
like radio-frequency identification, which could increase assurance even if it couldn’t deliver absolute
provenance.

The coopetition paradox must be resolved. Blockchains become more valuable with more
participants, but they also become more complex to coordinate. For example, a blockchain solution
for digital media, licenses, and royalty payments requires massive coordination among producers
and consumers of digital content. Resolving this paradox of natural competitors having to cooperate
is the toughest of these four factors. The issue is not identifying the network-or even getting initial
buy-in-but agreeing on the governance decisions around how the system, data, and investment will
be led and managed. The strategic incentives of the players must be aligned, a task that can be
particularly difficult in highly fragmented markets. Overcoming this issue often requires a sponsor,
such as a regulator or industry body, to take the lead.

A STRUCTURED WAY TO DEVELOP BLOCKCHAIN STRATEGY
Fear of missing out on a new technology sometimes leads companies to develop solutions to
problems that don’t exist. We believe companies can avoid this trap through a structured approach
to blockchain.

First, identify and skeptically assess a specific use case that can create value. Most companies can
find use cases by taking a close look at the pain points affecting their industry and their customers.
Companies can decide whether these cases are feasible by considering a variety of factors, such as
its capability to design a blockchain solution, technology and asset constraints, and the potential for
passing on benefits and savings to customers. If a use case does not meet a minimum level of

Page 5 of 8UC MegaSearch

10/26/2019http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/delivery?sid=8dc22675-4fdf-488e-afce-023afbccdded%40…

feasibility and potential return, then companies should avoid launching a project just to “be in the
game.”

Companies that have identified a promising use case, however, will move on to the second part of
our structured approach: understanding how their market position will impact that target use case.

Part of blockchain’s value comes from its network effects and interoperability, and all parties need to
agree on a common standard to realize this value- multiple siloed blockchains provide little
advantage over multiple siloed databases. As the technology develops, a market standard will
emerge and investments into the nondominant standard will be wasted. Coordination with other
industry players is critical. That’s why a company’s market dominance, or lack thereof, affects its
ability to influence other key players in the industry and to help shape standardization and regulatory
barriers. Here’s how market position shapes blockchain strategy.

Leaders: Build on existing strengths
Leaders are dominant players in industries with few requirements for coordination and regulatory
approval. These companies should pursue use cases now. They have the potential to create
solutions that can solidify their market position and set industry standards. The greatest risk for
these companies is inaction, which could open a competitive window for disruptors.

Change Healthcare is an example of a company taking advantage of its market leadership. One of
the largest independent healthcare IT companies in the United States, it launched an enterprise-
scale healthcare blockchain for claims processing and payment.[ 8]

Conveners: Shape standards to gain an edge
Conveners are dominant players who cannot single-handedly direct blockchain adoption, since they
operate in industries with considerable regulatory and standardization barriers. Conveners need to
drive the conversations and consortia that will shape the new standards poised to disrupt their
current businesses. Then they can position themselves to shape and capture the value of new
blockchain standards.

Convening tactics should be deployed for high-value use cases, such as trade finance, that cannot
be realized without a broadly shared set of standards. An example of a convener following this
strategy is Toyota, whose Research Institute set up the Blockchain Mobility Consortium with four
global partners to focus on blockchain solutions for critical accelerators of autonomous vehicles:
data sharing, peer-to-peer transaction, and usagebased insurance.[ 9]

Followers: Stay informed and be ready to move fast
Most companies are followers, in the sense that they lack the power to influence all necessary
parties, especially when applications of blockchain require high standardization or regulatory
approval. But followers cannot afford to ignore blockchain. They must be informed about market
innovations, keeping a close watch on blockchain developments. They should also be prepared to
move fast to adopt emerging standards. Just as businesses have developed risk and legal

Page 6 of 8UC MegaSearch

10/26/2019http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/delivery?sid=8dc22675-4fdf-488e-afce-023afbccdded%40…

frameworks for adopting cloudbased services, companies should focus on developing a strategy for
how they will implement and deploy blockchain technology.

Followership is risky, given the ability of dominant players to establish private-permissioned
networks. A follower, no matter how fast, may find itself locked out of the exclusive club that
establishes the initial proof of concept. Companies can mitigate this risk by joining select existing
and emerging consortia early. The short-term investment costs of membership are often outweighed
by the long-term costs of getting left behind.

Attackers: Leverage their market leadership
Attackers are often new market entrants without an existing market share to protect, armed with
disruptive or transformative business models and blockchain solutions. Attackers offer a service
intended to disintermediate existing players. Most peer-to-peer applications, from finance to
insurance to property, fall into this category. A good example of an attacker is Australian start-up
Power Ledger, a peer-to-peer marketplace for renewable energy that raised 34 million Australian
dollars through its ICO.[10] Sometimes, companies pursuing an attacker strategy will try to partner
with a dominant company in the market to leverage their leadership influence.

Incumbents can deploy an attacker’s blockchain strategy in a separate, noncore digital business.
Blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) providers, for example, often adopt an attack strategy when they try
to sell services into industries where they currently do not participate.

Blockchain has strategic value for many companies. In the short term, the technology can reduce
costs without disintermediation, and in the long run it can create new business models. Existing
digital infrastructure and the growth of BaaS offerings have lowered the costs of experimentation.
However, a variety of fundamental factors limit the scalability of many use cases and extend the
amount of time needed for return on investment on proof of concepts.

Assessing these factors with pragmatic skepticism about the scale of impact and speed to market
will help reveal the correct strategic approach on where and how companies can extract value in the
short term. Dominant players, however, have an enormous opportunity to establish their blockchain
as the market solution. They should be making those moves now.

1 Deep shift: Technology tipping points and societal impact, World Economic Forum, September
2015, weforum.org.

2″ Blockchain startups absorbed 5X more capital via ICOs than equity financings in 2017,” CB
Insights, January 2018, cbinsights.com.

3 ” IBM invests to lead global Internet of Things market-shows accelerated client adoption,” IBM,
October 2016, ibm.com.

4″ASX selects distributed ledger technology to replace CHESS,” ASX, December 2017.

Page 7 of 8UC MegaSearch

10/26/2019http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/delivery?sid=8dc22675-4fdf-488e-afce-023afbccdded%40…

5″ Maersk and IBM to form joint venture applying blockchain to improve global trade and digitize
supply chains,” IBM, January 2018, ibm.com.

6 Jay Clayton, “Statement on cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings,” U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission, December 2017, sec.gov.

7 To be sure, blockchain does not eliminate the possibility of fraudulent data being written to the
database, which could in turn be used to substantiate the existence of fraudulent assets.

8 “Change Healthcare announces general availability of first enterprise-scale blockchain solution for
healthcare,” Change Healthcare, January 2018, changehealthcare.com.

9 “Toyota Research Institute explores blockchain technology for development of new mobility
ecosystem,” Toyota, May 2017, toyota.com.

“Power Ledger token generation event closes with A$34million raised,” Power Ledger, October
2017, web.powerledger.io.

DIAGRAM: Exhibit. Private, permissioned blockchain architecture offers a way to optimize network
openness and scalability. Blockchain-architecture options

PHOTO (COLOR)

~~~~~~~~
By Brant Carson; Giulio Romanelli; Patricia Walsh and Askhat Zhumaev

Copyright of McKinsey Quarterly is the property of McKinsey & Company, Inc. and its content may
not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder’s
express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.

Page 8 of 8UC MegaSearch

10/26/2019http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/delivery?sid=8dc22675-4fdf-488e-afce-023afbccdded%40…

computerweekly.com 17-23 September 2019 16

W hen people interact with each other, for example via financial transactions, sharing legal docu-ments or trading through supply chains, they need a high level of confidence that the data
recording their interaction is accurate and true.

A distributed ledger makes it possible to build applications
where multiple parties can execute transactions online without
the need to trust a central authority or indeed each other.

Over the past few years, the number of use cases for distributed
ledgers, and their more specialised form, blockchains, has been
increasing, as has the technology to support the underlying infra-
structure and build applications on top of it.

With a distributed ledger, every user has their own full, or in some
cases partial, copy of the database, referred to as a node, which
can be a physical device, a virtual machine or a software container.

Each node runs the relevant software to provide the infrastruc-
ture management and the relevant application, including the
ability to complete “smart contracts” that negotiate the direct
exchange of assets between participating nodes.

consensus
For a transaction to proceed, all nodes must verify a transaction
and agree its order on the ledger.

Doing so is termed “consensus”, which is necessary, for exam-
ple, to avoid double counting or overspending when it comes to
financial assets.

Consensus involves four steps, from the transaction being
initiated to it being committed on all nodes with a timestamp

InsIde blockchaIn and Its
varIous applIcatIons

Bob Tarzey explores the technology around
blockchain shaping how businesses use data

BUYER’S GUIDE

TO BLOCKCHAIN | PART 2 OF 3

G
O

LD
EN

S
IK

O
R

K
A

/A
D

O
B

Home

http://www.computerweekly.com

https://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/blockchain

https://searchservervirtualization.techtarget.com/definition/virtual-machine

https://www.techtarget.com/contributor/Bob-Tarzey

computerweekly.com 17-23 September 2019 17

Home

News

How IT departments
can find different
ways to upskill in
the new economy

Travel company Clarity
bakes ThoughtSpot
search and AI functions
into analytics tool

Digital factory
approach signals a new
departure for Network
Rail’s IT strategy

Editor’s comment

Buyer’s guide
to blockchain

Delivering cloud in the
financial services sector

How 5G will transform
your business

Downtime

providing a unique cryptographic signature. These steps can be
completed in seconds or minutes, depending on the technology.

Blockchains are distinguished from other distributed ledgers in
being updated by adding blocks of new transactions to create an
immutable tamper-proof log of sensitive activity.

The right to write blocks may require proof-of-work – which
can be time and resource intensive – the aim being to prevent, for
example, mass updates by bots.

Nomenclature has become confusing as the two terms, dis-
tributed ledger and blockchain, have been used interchangeably,
with the latter prevailing, being punchier and, perhaps, sounding
more contemporary.

public or private
Blockchains can either be public or private and require permis-
sion to update or not. Use cases range from international money
transfers, managing shareholder records and legal contracts to
recording the provenance of gemstones and the condition of
goods in transport.

To date, the most high-profile use of blockchain has been to oper-
ate cryptocurrencies, a way of exchanging and storing value online
independent of central banks. From this has involved initial coin
offerings (ICO), a way of using cryptocurrencies as an alternative
to initial public offerings (IPO) for companies to raise capital.

With the oldest and highest profile blockchain application,
bitcoin, it can take many minutes for consensus to be reached,
which is why the cryptocurrency has a reputation for poor perfor-
mance and scalability. It is also criticised for the datacentre power

it consumes in a process called mining, the form of proof-of-work,
rewarded with bitcoins, used to add new blocks of transactions to
the bitcoin blockchain.

As the use of blockchains has extended to other use cases, the
aim has been to overcome these deficiencies.

Different approaches are enabled through frameworks which
provide the basic architecture, protocol and network support.

Frameworks simplify the development, deployment and sup-
port of applications that access a given blockchain. There are
several blockchain frameworks which compete and/or address
different requirements.

Frameworks
The most widely used is Ethereum, an open source public block-
chain framework. The first implementations were in 2015, but it is
already thought to account for 80% of blockchain-based projects.

Ethereum suits highly distributed requirements where the
transparency of data to all users is important – for example, a
customer loyalty network where retailers need to independently
verify a user’s activity to provide benefits.

Ethereum was the first platform to enable full-fledged smart
contracts, which, for example, makes it quick and easy to launch
ICOs. Ethereum is also the name of a cryptocurrency based on
the platform.

The Linux Foundation’s Hyperledger Fabric is an open source
enterprise private blockchain framework suited to applications
that require privacy and permission controls with a known set
of members – for example, a financial application where certain

BUYER’S GUIDE

http://www.computerweekly.com

https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252465373/Facebook-officially-unveils-cryptocurrency-plans

https://searchbusinessanalytics.techtarget.com/news/252469508/ThoughtSpot-BI-platform-gets-financial-boost-IPO-may-be-near

https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/Ethereum

https://searchdatamanagement.techtarget.com/feature/Hyperledger-Fabric-offers-path-to-enterprise-blockchain-future

computerweekly.com 17-23 September 2019 18

Home
News
How IT departments
can find different
ways to upskill in
the new economy
Travel company Clarity
bakes ThoughtSpot
search and AI functions
into analytics tool
Digital factory
approach signals a new
departure for Network
Rail’s IT strategy
Editor’s comment
Buyer’s guide
to blockchain
Delivering cloud in the
financial services sector
How 5G will transform
your business
Downtime

trade-related data is only shared with select banks. In effect, it is
a hub for the open development of blockchains for solving cor-
porate tasks.

The project started in 2015 and has more than 100 participating
companies which pay a membership fee, starting at $50,000 per
annum, enabling them to contribute software code to the project.

Waves is an open source blockchain platform created by a
Russian company specifically for launching ICOs; a distant sec-
ond to Ethereum for doing this. It includes a decentralised trading
exchange. Ripple is an open source platform used as an international
currency exchange for both cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies. It
is designed to allow fast and cheap international transactions.

The NEM Foundation’s platform claims the scalability and per-
formance to suit a range of use cases, including financial pay-
ments, cryptocurrencies, equity markets and escrow services,
using a consensus algorithm called proof-of-importance that
provides privileges to participants with the best reputations.

smart contract platForm
EOS is a smart contract platform and decentralised operating
system intended for the deployment of industrial-scale appli-
cations. It aims to eliminate transaction fees and be highly
scalable. R3’s Corda operates smart contracts, within the Java
Virtual Machine, and is aimed at financial institutions. Iota is

BUYER’S GUIDE

A
LE

X
/A

D
O

B
E

http://www.computerweekly.com

https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252439085/Santander-uses-Ripple-technology-to-offer-international-payments

https://www.theserverside.com/news/252447729/Developers-favor-JVM-languages-for-mobile-enterprise

computerweekly.com 17-23 September 2019 19

an open source distributed ledger, customised to work with
internet of things (IoT) applications providing feeless micro-
transactions. JP Morgan’s Quorum is Ethereum-based, claiming
enterprise scalability and the ability to limit access to transac-
tion history, while providing maximum transparency.

blockcHain as a service
Quorum has recently been selected by Microsoft as the first
supported framework for its managed Azure Blockchain Service.

The aim of such managed, blockchain-as-a-service offerings is
to avoid self-hosting of blockchain infrastructure, eliminating the
need to provision hardware, configure software and set up net-
working and security components, as well as ease the develop-
ment of applications on top of one or more frameworks.

The Microsoft Azure Blockchain Service was launched earlier
in 2019, on top of earlier releases of a blockchain development
kit and workbench. It integrates with Microsoft’s Active Directory
and Visual Studio, as well as a range of open source tools.

The Amazon Managed Blockchain was launched in December
2018 and supports both Hyperledger Fabric and Ethereum.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) claims it enables the rapid creation
of new blockchain networks that can span multiple AWS accounts,
that can automatically scale to meet the demands of thousands of
applications. It monitors the network and automatically replaces
poorly performing nodes assigning processing power and mem-
ory flexibly, as would be expected on a managed platform.

The launch of the service means AWS now competes with some
of its platform partners, such as ConsenSys’s Kaleido.

The IBM Blockchain Platform, launched in 2017, is based on
Hyper Ledger. It can be run on-premise or as a cloud service on a
customer-chosen platform and includes a set of security services
suited to the requirements of enterprise customers. Oracle also
released a blockchain platform based on Hyperledger Fabric in
February 2019.

specialist requirements
Alongside some of the IT industry’s biggest names, many
smaller, niche players are coming to market to serve specialist
requirements and applications relating to blockchain.

Gospel Technology is a private permissioned blockchain aimed
at safe data sharing. Use cases include human resources systems
and pharmaceutical testing. To this end, it provides consensus on
reads, as well as writes, ensuring that it is opaque about data, but
open about who has accessed it.

Because Gospel is focusing on content as much as transactions,
the data volumes involved can be high, so network nodes can store
a subset of the data relevant to their needs. This also means it can
make use of Byzantine fault tolerance, meaning it can continue to
operate even if the status of certain nodes is unknown.

Gospel has just launched a version on the Google Cloud
Platform, however, customers can use other platforms such as
AWS or Azure.

Modum is a Switzerland-based company currently operating
mainly in Germany – with global plans. It partners with AWS and
SAP. Its offering aims to automate, integrate and digitise supply
chains, the initial focus market being pharmaceuticals.

BUYER’S GUIDE

http://www.computerweekly.com

https://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/feature/Quorum-OnQ-40

https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252465018/AWS-skills-collaboration-gives-rise-to-two-year-pre-university-cloud-qualification

https://searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com/essentialguide/A-Google-cloud-services-guide-for-the-enterprise

computerweekly.com 17-23 September 2019 20

Modum provides an IoT-type device with a data logger to be
included with transported goods to monitor environmental con-
ditions, such as temperature and humidity to prove compliance
with good distribution practices.

The data collected can be immutably secured in a blockchain
and shared with stakeholders to add a layer of trust.

Fraud prevention
Tomia specialises in fraud prevention, traffic optimisation and
roaming insights for mobile carriers. It provides real-time analyt-
ics and recently announced a partnership with Microsoft, KPMG
and R3 to provide a blockchain-based system to optimise dispute
management and help resolve billing and settlement disputes.

Quant Network’s Overledger is a blockchain operating sys-
tem providing the ability for applications to interact with mul-
tiple blockchains.

The need for many-to-many relationships between applications
and databases is not new: it was one that had to be addressed in
the 1980s and 1990s with the rising use of relational databases.
Standards were introduced and the market consolidated. This
is what will happen in the world of blockchains. Furthermore,
blockchain is not a panacea: it will never suit many applications
where central control, extremely high speed or the mass storage
of unstructured data are required.

Blockchain merely provides another choice in the range of
database options available. n

SA
SH

K
IN

/A
D
O
B
E
BUYER’S GUIDE

http://www.computerweekly.com

https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252439708/No-business-safe-from-cyber-attack-says-KPMG

Copyright of Computer Weekly is the property of TechTarget, Inc. and its content may not be
copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder’s
express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for
individual use.

Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:

Turnitin Report

Formatting

Title Page

Citation

Outline

Place an Order