CLOUD COMPUTING
exodus of sorts , seeing some integral members , including the American Investment Bank and Goldman Sachs , leave . Despite this setback , R3 rallied by pulling in $ 107mn in a funding round and keeping the consortium firmly in the running as a major blockchain player .
Building on the defining characteristics of blockchain systems – consensus , validity , uniqueness , immutability and authentication – R3 has developed Corda for financial applications . CTO Richard G Brown explains R3 is not necessarily building a true blockchain , but utilising key elements to provide a tailored solution . “ Unlike other designs , our starting point is individual agreements between firms . We reject the notion that all data should be copied to all participants , even if it ’ s encrypted . Secondly , our focus is on agreements : the need to link to legal prose is considered from the start . We know there will still be some disputes and we should specify up front how they will be resolved . Thirdly , we take into account the reality of managing financial agreements ; we need more than just a consensus system . We need to make it easy to write business logic and integrate with existing code , as well as focussing on interoperability , supporting the choreography between firms as they build up their agreements .” Now launched , R3 ’ s Corda partner network has grown to include over 60 companies such as Hewlett Packard Enterprise , Intel and Microsoft .
SKUChain In 2014 SKUChain ’ s founders saw a unique opportunity to develop blockchain as a standalone technology , distinct from cryptocurrencies , that could be applied to other use cases in an enterprise context . The supply chain offered a scenario where numerous parties were already accustomed to interacting with imperfect trust . “ There is an incentive to collaborate , but taking out the trust factor was a significant opportunity ,” says Ranga Krishnan , Vice President , Technology at SKUChain . “ We think of blockchain as a way to make IoT ( Internet of Things ) actionable . Where before you had sensors on humidity , temperature or location and this data was actively used by companies for informational purposes , you can now
36 January 2018