IBM blockchain solutions digest, part 1

Already this fall, IBM may launch a blockchain solution that is focused on meeting the financial needs of its customers. According to the recently published article The Wall Street Journal, the global financial division of IBM intends to launch a project whose main goal will be to resolve controversial situations of operations.

We, in the Wirex blockchain service team , decided to analyze the history of IBM's development from the beginning of this year and bring to the attention of Geektimes users a digest of blockchain solutions implemented by the American technology giant.

January 14

IBM spoke about the Open Ledger Project and the big future of blockchain technology

In December 2015, the American company IBM, one of the world's largest technology companies, announced its interest in the blockchain technology and support for the Open Ledger Project , supervised by the Linux Foundation.

In total, financial institutions, technology companies and two New York blockchain startups - Digital Asset and the R3CEV consortium consisting of 40 banks, as well as individual banks take part in the project.
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It is assumed that the Open Ledger Project will become a kind of library for developers, allowing companies to create their own individual solutions based on distributed registers, without the need to use the publicly available Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains.

Previously, the technology giant and the Linux Foundation , a non-profit organization that supports the open source Linux operating system, have already had collaborative experience.

The vice president of IBM for work with the blockchain, Jerry Cuomo, said that last year the parties reached a similar agreement on Bitcoin and Blockchain technologies and began work towards a common project.


IBM Vice President for Blockchain Jerry Cuomo

In addition, last year IBM worked with other customers on other blockchain-based experimental concepts and technologies. The result of this work was the emergence of a number of public projects, such as ADEPT , developed in conjunction with Samsung technology for managing a network of devices running at the junction of three protocols - Bittorent, Ethereum and TeleHash.

According to Cuomo, the next phase will be a discussion of the structure of the project and the division of responsibility between the participants who supported it. After that, accountable committees will be created, among which there will be a technical committee.

As for the program code, its entry into the general repository of the project has already begun with the developments of IBM and Digital Asset Holdings.

Also, according to Cuomo, the development of a full-fledged working solution will take several years. He, however, expressed the hope that by 2017 the companies would begin to implement verification concepts and high-grade commercial products based on the development of the Open Ledger Project.

11 February

IBM shares the vision of the Hyperledger project, designed to adapt the blockchain for business

According to the Aite Group, the size of the blockchain market by 2019 will be estimated at $ 400 million. However, the question of how this volume will be divided between its players and service providers is still open, and the number of new projects is constantly growing.

One of these projects - Hyperledger Project - among the participants of which is the digital giant IBM. The Hyperledger Project is an “open source project aimed at the progress in the development of the blockchain”, and over 30 partners, including start-ups, banks and IT companies, have become its participants.

According to Jerry Cuomo, the main task of Hyperledger is blockchain adaptation for business.

IBM, which provides its code to the general repository of the project, has recently spoken actively on the importance of an open, innovative approach in order to create a platform for moving funds. The company has also criticized modern blockchain solutions that are unable to meet the needs of the business.

In addition to IBM, 3 other participating companies also provided code for the project: Blockstream , Ripple , Digital Asset Holdings .

One of the main doubts associated with Hyperledger, can be called the lack of certainty about what will be the final result of the project team.

Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation, acknowledged that specific ways of developing the project have not yet been determined, noting that the choice of direction will largely depend on the views of the participants who supported it, and the project itself is a very organic and plastic combination of interests parties. He also added that currently the dialogue is developing mainly in the context of the discussion of blockchain scenarios in the field of the Internet of things and digital rights management.

Cuomo confirmed these ideas, noting that the project’s objectives are not in the area of ​​ensuring compatibility of current solutions, but in developing new ones. According to an IBM representative, Hyperledger is an attempt to study the characteristics of different types of blockchains, without departing from the basic ideas underlying this technology.



When the conversation turned to what benefits would be given to development teams participating from public blockchain projects such as Ripple, Cuomo expressed the assumption that all participants would benefit from working on the project, even if their tokens that are in public registers (for example, Bitcoin or Ripple) will not be in great demand. That is, the main motivation, in his opinion, will be an opportunity to contribute to the development of the concept of a new type of technology.

A representative from IBM added that Hyperledger members should evaluate any benefits from a long-term perspective, since, according to Cuomo’s personal conviction, the technology can be applied in the future even when working with global supply systems and government social security programs.

Cuomo also announced that Hyperledger has launched a regularly updated official website containing general information about the blockchain concept for business.

Jerry Cuomo said that over the next few weeks, participants will create an architecture that will allow to take into account all the code added to the project. After that, the site will also have the opportunity to download decorated code.

At the same time, answering the question about the complexity of perception of the code for end users, Cuomo replied that they would need some knowledge in this area.

The representative of IBM also recalled that the resulting code could equally be used in other joint projects. That is, for example, one of the 40 participating banks R3CEV will be able to use the development of Hyperledger for this project.

It is also worth noting that both Cuomo and Zemlin spoke in favor of the value of the open-source approach, which in the future may allow Hyperledger to become a new analog of Android or Linux in the field of new data storage and processing technologies.

February 16

IBM reveals details of a new business strategy and a new set of blockchain services

IBM unveiled details of a new integrated blockchain technology business solution.

Earlier, IBM has already told the general public about its role in the open source project of the Hyperledger Project, which is being conducted under the leadership of the Linux Foundation, but recent news suggests the beginning of a full-fledged independent activity of the company in the emerging blockchain market.

According to information on the IBM website, the company’s new strategy has been in development for several years and included a blockchain-as-a-service proposal and a scheme for its integration with other company products, such as the IBM z Systems computer network, the Watson artificial intelligence system for the Internet of Things and a workshop initiative of the company called Bluemix Garage .

All this allows IBM to become the second after Microsoft large technology company that launched its own BaaS offer.

In an interview with the CoinDesk news portal, IBM Vice President for Blockchain Jerry Cuomo spoke about the difference between the approaches of the two companies, which, he said, is that Microsoft is more open to integrating already available third-party blockchain applications, while IBM offers clients to create their own proprietary blockchain structures for internal use, but based on the experience of development and vision of IBM.

According to Cuomo, IBM’s new consensus algorithm boasts improvements in terms of increased privacy and the ability to conduct deep activity audits. This allows businesses to create blockchain applications for a wide range of specific situations, while gaining high speed and support.

The list of first users of the new solution includes: the London Stock Exchange (LSE), the Kouvola Innovation Development Agency of the Kouvola region and the Tokyo Stock Exchange operator, the Japan Exchange Group.

Cuomo also described some of the features of the IBM blockchain structure. According to him, all the registers within the solution replicate information among themselves, that is, changing data in one register entails automatic changes in others. In addition, the new solution uses split access control. Thus, the ability to see this or that information or perform operations with it will depend on the level of user access. This will allow companies to apply their unique business logic to registers.

IBM representatives also talked about the “modular architecture” that allows users to experiment with various software modules: a cryptographic identity management tool and smart contracts written in Java and Golang, confidential information management tools and other types of information that allow users to define parameters for viewing and changing smart contracts.

For writing smart contracts for IBM blockchains, languages ​​more familiar to a wide range of programmers are used, while Ethereum, for example, uses completely new languages ​​for these purposes.

According to Cuomo, the IBM consensus algorithm will contain 44 thousand lines of the Hyperledger Project project code, which will also be used as a separate business proposal. An IBM spokesman explained that the difference for IBM customers would be in the range of services included in the company's solution. In particular, they will receive from the company the tools for creating and managing their own blockchain network, a set of examples and some other services, the implementation of which is planned for the future.



To demonstrate the capabilities of the new blockchain-environment, IBM offered customers a simple blockchain application called the Marbles App. It allows developers to understand the principles of the IBM blockchain and the mechanisms for exchanging assets using the example of a virtual exchange for creating and exchanging marble stones of various sizes and colors.

In addition to the Marbles App, there are other demo examples in development for other aspects of the environment.

The IBM proposal is at the testing stage and is currently available only to developers. It is assumed that the blockchains resulting from this work will ultimately be launched and become available to the general public.

According to Cuomo, Japan Exchange Group is working to confirm the concept, the purpose of which is to use IBM's blockchain for exchanges that sell low-liquid assets.

Cuomo also said that the Japan Exchange Group is participating in the Hyperledger project, and its representatives are on the technical committee of the project. This is primarily due to the fact that it is extremely important for the exchanges to work closely with regulators, and participation in such an open association will allow them from the outset to direct the development in the right direction and show regulators the seriousness of their intentions in working with new technologies and their commitment to regulatory requirements. .

Also, according to Cuomo, other business decisions of the company, such as the computer system and IBM z Systems distributed server technologies, should play a big role in the company's success.


IBM zEnterprise EC12

IBM promises that a bundle of z Systems and the blockchain will take productivity to a new level thanks to the ability to "process a huge amount of information about transactions, allowing you to streamline processes and reduce costs."

Also, according to Cuomo, z Systems is renowned for its ability to perform large-scale cryptographic processing, which will allow customers to better cope with the scaling of blockchains operating on the basis of their infrastructure.

In the near future, the company plans to launch the IBM Blockchain DevOps service, which will allow customers to deploy their own mini blockchain network in just 12 seconds.

Another new company - IBM Bluemix Garage is a special space, the opening of which is planned in London, New York, Singapore and Tokyo. In them, Bluemix Garage employees will conduct workshops and master classes to help potential customers get acquainted with the new technology or expand their knowledge about it, and developers - to master the skills of designing and practical use of the blockchain. Cuomo believes that the 90-minute interactive sessions from the IBM Bluemix Garage team, also available as a web conference, will help clients quickly put their ideas into practice.

March 25

Hyperledger almost managed to combine the code of IBM and other project participants.

During the meeting of the technical committee of the open-source Hyperledger project, the participants in the meeting practically managed to approve the formal merger of the code bases proposed by the three participating companies - IBM, Blockstream and Digital Asset.

However, one of the committee members (whose name was not disclosed) voted against the proposal, which led to maintaining the current status on this issue.

The meeting began with a report on the achievement of the efficiency of the concept of merging codes IBM, Blockstream and Digital Asset Holdings.

This fact was confirmed by representatives of Digital Asset Holdings, who spoke in more detail about the experiment in which the Blockstream validation code, IBM blockchain OBC / UTXO code and Digital Asset Holding client data processing mechanisms were merged. The check consisted of loading to the account of 100 thousand Satoshi and conducting a transaction with transfer of 30 thousand Satoshi to another account with a commission of 5 thousand Satoshi.

After the results were announced, the participants proceeded to a vote on the merger of the verified code elements. It was informal: each of those present verbally confirmed their agreement. The only member who voted against the committee explained his decision by insufficient written elaboration of the merger requirements.

And even despite the fact that DeHotel could put the question to the vote and collect the necessary two-thirds of the votes, the organizer, probably not wanting to turn the rest of the participants against their colleagues, decided to temporarily stop the discussion on this issue. At the same time, it was noted that moving forward, albeit not unanimously, is still necessary for the project.

The first Hyperledger hackathon and the official technical document of the project were also discussed at the meeting.


Hyperledger Hackathon

According to the executive director of JPMorgan Chase, David Voila, who conducted the review of the technical document, the first draft version reiterated the previously written version of IBM, with the exception that its title was replaced with Hyperledger.

However, now the content of the document varies depending on the ideas and specifications provided by the participants in order to give a clear explanation of how Hyperledger differs from other similar solutions, such as Bitcoin and Ripple.

It was the first of 2 parts of the IBM 2016 blockchain development digest prepared by the Wirex blockchain service team . Continue to follow our blog updates and don’t miss a continuation of this material, from which you will learn how IBM is going to use Watson’s AI in its blockchain solutions, what are the new cloud solutions of the technology giant, and why the Center Blockchain-Innovations Corporation in Singapore.