Image: Enrico Zanardo, OneZero Binary Ltd.
This Developer Showcase blog series serves to highlight the work and motivations of developers, users and researchers collaborating on Hyperledger’s projects. Next up is Enrico Zanardo from OneZero Binary. Let’s see what he has to say!
What advice would you offer other technologists or developers interested in getting started working on blockchain?
I recommend that not only developers but also anybody passionate about the technology study thoroughly, and also to adopt a typical distributed ledger technology (DLT) “forma mentis”. Blockchain is starting to become a new mainstream technology just like the Internet in the 2000s and social networks in the successive decade.
What project in Hyperledger are you working on? Any new developments to share? Can you sum up your experience with Hyperledger?
Between Malta and Italy, my team and I have been working on PulseRescue, a mobile app with a backend application that connects to all the emergency centres in each country. PulseRescue alerts first responders that are nearest to the emergency. We needed to connect and share information between multiple entities like hospitals, emergency services, first responder organisations such as the Red Cross, White Cross, etc… so Hyperledger Fabric was the best choice. We are also able to customise the app based on each organisation’s specific needs, like the layout, without changing our communication protocol. We really hope that this use case can gain wide enough adoption to help save lives.
As Hyperledger’s incubated projects start maturing and hit 1.0s and beyond, what are the most interesting technologies, apps, or use cases coming out as a result from your perspective?
I’m a Golang fanatic, and Hyperledger Fabric is the most interesting choice if I have to connect multiple organisations together. I’m also looking at Hyperledger Iroha because I think that it will become a common framework when the development of mobile applications is required. The development of a new, chain-based Byzantine Fault Tolerant consensus algorithm called Sumeragi is also interesting.
Where do you hope to see Hyperledger and/or blockchain in 5 years?
The most obvious answer is “everywhere.” However, if I had to think about the sectors with the most important and immediate need, I would say education, IoT, and everything concerning product traceability in supply and production chains, e.g. large-scale organised distribution.
What is the best piece of developer advice you’ve ever received?
While taking the first certified cohort of the Hyperledger Fabric for Developers course provided by B9lab, I learned how to setup Kafka and Zookeeper on the Hyperledger Fabric network. Thanks to this course, I was able to test this “consensus” mechanism to make multiple order processes crash fault tolerant.
I personally suggest that everybody interested in blockchain technology try at least one course provided by B9lab simply because they are able to teach sophisticated tools like Hyperledger Fabric in a simple way, and they are always ready to help their students during (and after) the course.