Oracle and IBM work on interoperability of their blockchains

Technology giants Oracle and IBM announced that they are working on the compatibility of their blockchains and logisticsHyperledger Fabric based projects.

Oracle developers announced collaboration onHyperledger Global Forum, held in Phoenix. Mark Rakhmilevich, Oracle’s senior director of product management on the blockchain, said that work on ensuring blockchain compatibility began at the end of 2018, before the first Hyperledger Global Forum, which was held in Basel.

“We did a full test with IBM and SAP. The three of us, in fact, conducted the firewall testing on Fabric. Therefore, if someone comes and says that he wants to launch the network in Oracle, but he has interested parties who prefer to work in the IBM network, we can demonstrate to them a technology that is tested and certified, ”Rakhmilevich said.

Technological aspects of development includesmoothing the exchange of information between networks in a format that the other side can process. “The long-term goal should be to create a simple user interface in which you can configure with the click of a button. While we are conducting manual connection testing, ”added Rakhmilevich.

Large companies often use the sameprotocol for developing your own blockchains. For example, Oracle and IBM created their networks based on Hyperledger Fabric. Each company has also formed its own consortium, in which firms come together to track supply chains. Thus, CargoSmart members work on Oracle Blockchain, and TradeLens members work on IBM Blockchain Platform.

Both consortia include seaports throughoutto the world, as well as forwarding companies. This means that any step towards the compatibility of these projects can potentially be of great importance to the participating industry players. To make this process more flexible, Rakhmilevich believes that you need to “start with the code,” while the complex work of creating a formal consortium can be done in parallel.

“Creating a consortium structure will take a long time. Therefore, we have already begun to create a technological basis while legal discussions are ongoing, ”he said.

Development teams at IBM, Oracle, and SAPoptimistic about collaboration between firms involved in various Hyperledger Fabric deployments. However, people who make decisions from a business point of view can assess the situation differently.

“Large IT companies have a history of competition,but at the technical level it makes sense to collaborate, whether formal standards or informal. In particular, when it comes to blockchain, which is an ecosystem. Several parties will participate in it, so we need to make sure that it can be supported in several clouds and from different suppliers. We are still competitors in the market, and we will always remain them, ”Rakhmilevich said.

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