What is Azure Blockchain Service – Ultimate Guide

As we all know that the world is changing digitally with the evolution of the latest blockchain technology, organizations are competing with each other to build their own blockchain to enhance their business growth. It is undeniable that all organizations will not be able to afford infrastructure for their own blockchain and it opened up the way for Blockchain as a service. Azure Blockchain service is one such to be explored.

In this article, you will be able to find the complete guide on Azure blockchain service.

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What is Azure Blockchain Service?

Azure blockchain is powered by the most powerful technology leader Microsoft technologies. They have built a strong foundation with cloud technology and the Azure cloud platform has added its way to prove the same.

The Azure platform offers complete solutions from developing to maintaining blockchain service. With the help of their predefined modular networks and development platform, the developers will be able to develop and analyze the azure blockchain development.

The tools required for the development are available on this simplified development platform. The whole process of Microsoft Azure blockchain is validation and iteration. It is also a complete ledger service that offers the business to grow with the advanced blockchain networks. The organizations will be provided full access over the network of azure blockchain and the infrastructure provided to them.

True Blockchain is different from Blockchain As A Service (BaaS)

Hope you all know about blockchain technology. Yes! It is a decentralized technology having exclusive features like transparency, integrity, data security, etc.

Though there are different types of blockchain-like private, public, hybrid, etc. A true blockchain is always a decentralized technology but when the blockchain is used as a service it provides services to its clients. Here the decentralization approach is completely nullified.

A true blockchain will not have variations in the decentralization approach and so we can say that a true blockchain is different from a blockchain as a service.

A comprehensive guide to Blockchain As A Service (BaaS)

The same concept goes in hand with the Azure Blockchain as a service platform. They are entirely opposite to the decentralized approach used in blockchain technology. Here it provides its blockchain services to its clients and acts as a centralized platform for developing, trading, and marketing the blockchain network. The ecosystem which offers the blockchain service is centralized and focused to provide benefits to the organization or industries.

At the same time, it has the potential to provide blockchain solutions with the centralized approach of its service to its clients and provide the complete benefits of blockchain technology.

Blockchain Networks Supported by the Azure Blockchain Service

It supports blockchain ledgers like Corda, Ethereum Quorum ledger, Hyperledger fabric. There is no need for the client to handle the ledger. The ledger support is free of cost and it comes with the blockchain service. The clients need to pay only for app development. The respective virtual machines, resources, infrastructure, and time will be provided to the clients.

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Support provided to open-source tools:

The Azure blockchain network supports the open-source tools to develop the application. Once the development phase is completed, the clients can deploy the application over the Azure blockchain network.

The Features of the Azure Blockchain

Supports different blockchain frameworks

As we have already seen above, it supports different blockchain networks or frameworks. Azure blockchain is planning to add more frameworks in the future.

No need for administration

As it supports all the backend tools, open-source tools, there is no need for separate administration required.

Easy deployment

The deployment is simple by making use of available tools such as Azure portal, Azure CL. The MS Azure blockchain extension has been supported with the updated visual studio code and this makes it easy to develop blockchain apps. It also provides the validator and transaction nodes. The Azure virtual network storage and security are well managed.

Security

The nodes of blockchain are protected by firewall security. The clients need to configure the firewall to access them. Also, more security features like authentication, encryption techniques, access keys are added to the network. In the security aspect, Microsoft had certified when compared to other cloud platform providers and they have already invested around 1 billion USD annually for the security concerns.

Get the comparison on Public blockchain vs Private blockchain

Maintenance

The nodes of the Azure blockchain network are maintained so that they support the latest version of blockchain and Azure blockchain as a service platform manages well to maintain the network.

Effective consortium management

With consortium management of Azure blockchain network, full access is provided to consortia. you will get the permission to add or delete members. Other features include codeless permissioning and policy enforcement.

Monitoring and logging

It provides complete monitoring and logging services. Here the information like nodes storage, memory, CPU, blocks mines, transaction queue depth all metrics are monitored by Azure monitor service.

Azure Blockchain WorkBench

This will allow managing the applications of Azure blockchain. It constitutes services and capabilities to build the blockchain applications.

Pricing

It offers a two-tier pricing structure which is based on the performance and capabilities. The two tiers are scalable to scale up the blockchain applications.

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The pricing structure of both the tiers:

Solutions for Supply Chain Management

Blockchain is one of the perfect solutions for supply chain management. almost all industries or business sectors use supply chain management. The main goal is to move the asset throughout the network without modifying it during transit. Healthcare is one industry that focuses on supply chain management. An effective solution can be provided by making of blockchain and implementing certain rules to enhance the supply chain management.

Blockchain Workflow Application

Blockchain can improve the workflow of any organization. As already seen it helps the supply chain management of the organization. The developer can use the Azure blockchain service to manage its own blockchain network. The consortium application is developed once the blockchain is implemented.

The information flow will follow the below architecture:

The above steps are used for the flow of information in the network of Azure blockchain.

Know how to build permissioned blockchain applications

Azure Marketplace

The Azure is emerging with innovative tools that can be merged with the Azure blockchain network. Below are the tools which optimize the blockchain service of the Azure network:

App Accelerators

Tools

Companies That Uses Azure Blockchain As Service Use Cases

Let’s take a look at the businesses using blockchain technology to better understand the potential of the Azure Blockchain as a service and also try to learn how they do it.

Starbucks

Starbucks is riding rich on blockchain innovation. However, they are using the support of Microsoft to completely execute their concept.

In order to ensure that they will evolve in the right direction, they recently made a big deal with Microsoft.

In this partnership, they are going to make use of Azure blockchain cloud services. Initially, in 2018, they began their blockchain program, where they will consciously use the blockchain to assist the Rwandans, Colombia, and Costa Rica.

Microsoft’s role comes in during the serving process part, including coffee-making machines, drive-thru ordering, and tracking.

Insurwave

One of the greatest issues to be addressed in the 21st century has been marine insurance. On the other hand, through its unique features, such as transparency, immutability, and more, Blockchain can solve the problem! Insurance is one of those companies founded by major players, including EY, Guardtime, A.P. Moller-Maersk, and R3, to create the world’s first blockchain network for maritime insurance. They use Microsoft Azure for insurance solutions to empower the enterprise and global Blockchain.

Xbox

To their advantage, Microsoft’s own Xbox subdivision uses Azure Blockchain. They use Blockchain to provide Xbox game publishers with details about royalties. It is done in real-time, which improves the process from 45 days to just a few minutes. Overall, the automation of one of the crucial aspects of Xbox using Blockchain on Azure is a step forward. The adoption was completed in 2018, and they can develop their systems a lot already!

Nasdaq

The Blockchain can also benefit greatly from capital markets. Nasdaq is aware of that, and that is why they have been using Azure. Their technology arm is mission-critical and hosts an infrastructure that controls over 100+ exchanges and other departments in 50 countries! Their step is to incorporate the Nasdaq financial system that takes care of Blockchain’s entire infrastructure. Azure is bringing them into the next generation of financial structure that will use the market strategy of the multi-ledger blockchain.

Resources

The resources of Azure blockchain will help you to find more details about it. Microsoft has created some of the resources to help you with it. Below are some of the important resources.

Read the guide on blockchain applications for small business

Conclusion

Hope in this article, you will be able to find the complete guide on Azure blockchain service. The azure blockchain is highly capable to develop, produce and maintain a consortium It provides exclusive features that will help you to focus on the ecosystem to improve your overall business growth.

The tools and resources of the Microsoft Azure blockchain service will help you to understand the blockchain service better. The pricing structure includes both tiers and it is also well defined with the features of azure blockchain.

Choose the best blockchain service to build your own blockchain for your business.

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Aditya Chandel

Great article

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4 years ago