Microsoft Releases Blockchain Development Kit on Azure

[Leonardo]

US tech giant Microsoft released on Thursday a new software development kit on its Azure cloud platform. The solution enables enterprises to develop distributed ledger technology (DLT) for a variety of use cases and integrate it with current data and legacy systems. Thus, companies will be able to use the kit to integrate blockchain with SaaS solutions provided by Microsoft and third-parties.

In May of this year, Microsoft released its first complete set of DLT tools called Azure Blockchain Workbench, which has been already implemented by several enterprises, including Taiwan-based China Binary Sale Technology. The set integrates Azure services for key management, off-chain data, monitoring, and messaging APIs into a reference framework that may be applied to create blockchain apps. As per Marc Mercuri, Microsoft’s principal program manager at Blockchain Engineering, the new kit extends the abilities of Azure Blockchain Workbench and the company’s other DLT developer templates.

The new kit will enable companies to develop and integrate blockchain solutions in days rather than months. This release focuses on features related to three cases: developing connecting interfaces for mobile clients, Internet of Things (IoT), SMS, and voice systems among others, integrating system and data that live off-chain, and implementing smart contracts and blockchain networks.

To extend the blockchain workflows to other blockchain networks, such as R3’s Corda, Ethereum or Bitcoin, Microsoft also launched a set of Logic App and Flow Connectors.

Mike Ward, R3’s head of Product Management, commented:

“At R3, we are committed to ensuring developers can deploy CorDapps quickly, securely and easily. The Azure Blockchain Development Kit will give our enterprise customers tools to integrate with the applications, software, and devices that people use every day like Outlook, Alexa, SMS, and web UX. Blockchain is moving out of the labs and into everyday business applications.”

Mercuri said in his blog post:

“The resulting applications will run atop a network that has higher rated cloud performance than other large-scale providers and enable federating identities between participants using Azure Active Directory.”

Source: https://cryptovest.com/news/microsoft-releases-blockchain-development-kit-on-azure/