blockchain Archives – Hyperledger Foundation

Jan 04

Solution Brief: Self-Assessing Service Level Agreements (SLAs) in Telecom

By Nikos Kapsoulis and Gordon Graham Blog, Hyperledger Fabric, Research, Special Interest Group, Telecom

The Hyperledger Telecom Special Interest Group, in collaboration with LF Networking, has just published a solution brief on the self-assessment of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) in telecom.

An SLA defines the services delivered by a provider to a client and the metrics for measuring those services. If the actual services received by the client do not meet the SLA guarantees promised by the provider, the agreement has been violated. In that case, the provider may owe the client a refund or whatever penalty is defined in the SLA.

The solution brief includes a high-level overview of a proposed solution for self-assessing SLAs. This proposed solution uses Hyperledger Fabric blockchain technology to tackle the gray areas of conventional SLA assessment.

This unique architecture provides a trusted and privacy-preserving network that can precisely monitor and compute SLA metrics, with full transparency for both provider and client.

Achieving effective SLA self-assessments will benefit everyone in the ecosystem by building trust, removing friction, streamlining processes, and saving costs.

The Problem: Lack of transparency

An effective SLA clearly defines all performance metrics and parameters.

But in most conventional SLAs, the provider assesses their own performance using their own tools and frameworks. The client generally has no way to see how these metrics are monitored or calculated. This increases the risk of biased results that favor the provider.

This lack of transparency means the client could well suffer from misunderstandings, missed violations, and insufficient refunds. All this undermines trust between the provider and the client.

The Solution: Using blockchain for transparent self-assessment

This solution brief proposes a novel architecture that is based on the Hyperledger Fabric blockchain framework and Hyperledger Fabric Private Chaincode (FPC). As shown in the figure below, the installed Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) provides secure and private monitoring, and computation of all performance metrics governed by the SLA.

Both client and provider benefit from the presented solution, which builds trust where little previously existed. More details are provided in the full white paper.

The scientific research performed on SLA Self-Assessment and applied to the telecom context adheres to work accomplished under the Pledger project.

The full paper is available to download here.

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Get Involved with the Group

To learn more about the Hyperledger Telecom Special Interest Group, check out the group’s wiki and mailing list. If you have questions, comments or suggestions, feel free to post messages to the list. And you’re welcome to join any of the group’s upcoming calls to meet group members and learn how to get involved. On February 9 at 9:00 am PT, the authors will be presenting the paper during the Telecom Special Interest Group call. All are welcome to join.

Acknowledgements

The Hyperledger Telecom Special Interest Group would like to thank the following people who contributed to this solution brief: Nima Afraz, David Boswell, Gordon Graham, Nikolaos Kapsoulis, Antonios Litke, Alexandros Psychas, Vipin Rathi, and Theodora Varvarigou.

Dec 20

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#HyperledgerAsia: A Sampling of the Many Hyperledger-Powered Solutions in Action Across Asia

By Hyperledger Blog, Hyperledger Fabric, Hyperledger Iroha

Hyperledger technologies are serving as the open source foundation for a rapidly growing range of production solutions and applications. Companies across Asia are putting Hyperledger technologies to work to boost trade, fight fraud, streamline financial transactions, authenticate data, verify identities and more.

As part of our spotlight on #HyperledgerAsia, we’ve collected a sampling of the many Hyperledger-powered solutions reshaping how business is done in markets across Asia. Read on for details:

Global Shipping Business Network (GSBN)

GSBN was founded by eight global shipping lines and terminal operators as a not-for-profit consortium to provide one standardized source of immutable data to all users in real-time. Built using the Oracle Blockchain Platform implementation of Hyperledger Fabric in multi-cloud deployment, GSBN supports modern and efficient global trade through data exchange. GSBN rolled out its first use case, Cargo Release, over several months, beginning in China and Southeast Asia in August 2021. After the initial deployment, GSBN gained support from terminals across the globe. Cargo Release expanded its footprint into Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in March 2022. Four months later, Cargo Release launched in Latin America, starting with ports across Mexico and Panama.

GSBN is using a permissioned blockchain with strong data governance where only authorized parties are granted the right to contribute and consume shipping related data. By leveraging immutability of the blockchain and data field level privacy through cryptography, participants in the supply chain such as Terminals, Carriers, Shippers, Freight Forwarders, Truckers, Customs and Financial Institution now also access Trade Finance and Electronic Bill of Lading applications, as well as Cargo Release, all enabled by trusted shipping data. Read the details in this case study.

marketsN

marketsN is a secure B2B platform from KoineArth built on the Oracle Blockchain Platform, which is powered by Hyperledger Fabric. It has been deployed by Hindalco Industries Ltd. (a subsidiary of the Aditya Birla Group) for monitoring the supply chain for outsourcing operations, including contract manufacturing with 25+ vendors (tollers) in a 4-tier supply chain network. marketsN enables them to see the inventory available at each vendor at any given point in time, replacing a three day manual process using Excel spreadsheets, many phone calls, and on-site visits, while avoiding the need for subsequent reconciliation since the data comes directly from the vendors. The solution also helps vendors to plan their own production based on shipment info to Hindalco clients, balance quantity, lower-tier supplier information, and other data on blockchain which allows them to better optimize their resources. They plan to also enable online invoice generation to automate the billing and payments cycle.

MDL (Medium Distributed Ledger)

Medium has developed an enterprise-type, high-performance blockchain solution, “MDL,”’ with an advanced core blockchain based on Hyperledger Fabric that can achieve speeds of up to 15,000 TPS. Its usability is maximized through the “MDL Manager,” which allows users to easily install, manage and monitor the blockchain.

MDL is currently being supplied to the Korea Expressway Corporation as a mutual settlement system for the tolls collected on the public and private highways in the country. Before the adoption of the blockchain-based mutual settlement system, there were more than 20,000 complaints a year about payment mismatches. Now, as a result of the new system, not only are data errors and omissions prevented but the processing performance of the system has increased. Settlement data, even in areas with high traffic volume, is now stably handled, reducing the amount of overpayment, manpower, and complaints.

Open Trade Blockchain (OTB)

Open Trade Blockchain is a cross-border trade documentation blockchain from Global eTrade Services (GeTS) that connects China & ASEAN economies It’s built on the Hyperledger Fabric-based Oracle Blockchain Platform and is used to provide security and visibility across all trade documents – helping to contain investment risk and facilitate growing trade with simplified verification procedures and data harmonization. Single-Windows or Single-Window Front-end Services can integrate with OTB to provide more value-added services for the local trade community.

This cross border blockchain-based trade platform has been extended to support collaboration across Taiwan, Singapore and New Zealand with the aim of improving the efficiency of cargoes under their Free Trade Agreement. For example, 3M Taiwan Ltd. reports that the cross border blockchain solution not only helps to reduce time for preparing and transmitting customs clearance documents from half a day to five minutes but has also solved documentation preparation challenges for Singapore exporters working remotely.

RAG Fraud Blockchain

The RAG Wangiri Blockchain was launched in March 2020 as a partnership of telcos and vendors created by Risk & Assurance Group (RAG) and Orillion Solutions with a common aim of reducing the number of wangiri fraud calls received by phone users. SORAMITSU recently joined the partnership and created a new Hyperledger Iroha-based infrastructure that can work with an expanded range of frauds. Renamed RAG Fraud Blockchain, this next-generation blockchain ledger serves as a fraud intelligence exchange where members that contribute data earn the right to access others’ data. The telcos that actively contribute their data will earn the right for continued free access, while other firms and organizations, including software vendors and law enforcement agencies, may pay for access or else be granted visibility of strictly limited subsets of the common ledger.

Secure Logistics Document Exchange (SLDE)

The Secure Logistics Document Exchange was facilitated by the Government of India and the Ministry of Commerce & Industry with an aim to replace the physical exchange of trade documents with a secure digital platform for generation, storage and exchange of documents. Built using Aadhaar-based authentication mechanism and the Hyperledger Fabric-based Oracle Blockchain Platform as a secure ledger, it offers an audit trail for the title of ownership/authenticity of documents and provides end-to-end visibility on transfer of documents.

The SLDE platform, developed by CargoExchange, supports an end-to-end digital trade ecosystem that includes banks, shippers, customs, freight forwarders, and export and import companies and aims to address the issues related to physical movement of logistics related documents such as slow speed, limited transparency and lack of audit trails. Using SLDE, Axis Bank has successfully executed industry-first blockchain-enabled domestic trade transactions with ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India and Lalit Pipes & Pipes Ltd. YES BANK used the system to support a deal involving Mukka Proteins, a Mangaluru-based marine product manufacturer and exporter, and Golden Beach Line (importer), an Oman-based trading company, with the forwarding agent Shipwaves Ltd.

SnapCert

SnapCert is a blockchain-based Credential Authentication platform for universities, colleges and institutes. Offered as a SaaS platform by Snapper Future Tech, SnapCert equips education customers to issue and verify credentials on a blockchain, ensuring no fraudulent credentials can be issued in their name.

SnapCert is built on Hyperledger Fabric and interoperable with non-Oracle Hyperledger instances that may be deployed on third-party clouds. It uses cloud infrastructure and REST APIs to build powerful products. The platform issues SSI (self-sovereign identity) credentials that follow W3C’s DID (decentralized identity) and verifiable credentials standard. It is also compliant with privacy and security compliance mandates (e.g., GDPR).

SnapCert offers secure digitization, generation, authentication, sharing, and verification of any kind of academic certificate as well as digital credentials for enterprises.

Trust Your Supplier

Trust Your Supplier (TYS) is a next-generation cloud-based supplier management platform built on Hyperledger Fabric that accelerates supplier onboarding, lowers procurement operating costs, ensures global regulatory compliance, and provides real-time visibility of supply chain risk across an encrypted blockchain environment.

TYS continues to expand the solution, allowing network participants to manage and monitor their suppliers across the globe. TYS was recently deployed into China and Japan, which brings the count of countries where TYS is available in Asia to 36. Additionally, suppliers in China can work in the TYS app using Simplified Chinese.

View the full country list here: Globalization – Trust Your Supplier

Join the conversation about the adoption and development of Hyperledger technologies across Asia on social channels with #HyperledgerAsia.

Sep 13

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Energy & Mines Digital Trust: The Open-Source Journey Towards a Clean, Resilient Economy

By Energy & Mines Digital Trust Blog, Climate, Hyperledger Aries, Hyperledger Indy, Identity

As the world works towards climate goals, a government project from Canada is using digital trust technology to make it easier and more secure for natural resource companies to share sustainability data.

Energy & Mines Digital Trust (EMDT) was established by the Government of British Columbia in recognition that we must do more to facilitate the transition to a clean, resilient economy. British Columbia (B.C.), Canada’s western-most province, was the first province in Canada to implement greenhouse gas emission reduction targets and mandatory sustainability reporting for major sectors of the provincial economy. As leaders in climate change legislation, B.C. is well positioned to explore cutting-edge technology in the journey towards a low-carbon economy. To improve trust, accuracy, and efficiency when sharing sustainability data, EMDT is coordinating a digital ecosystem – a network of organizations including environmental auditors, government bodies, mining and energy companies, and non-government organizations.

Improved Sustainability Reporting

Currently, reporting sustainability data can be challenging. Data is difficult to exchange internationally, and consumers cannot always access, or trust, reported data, not to mention the administrative burden.

EMDT’s digital ecosystem makes it possible to exchange sustainability information simply and securely, using digital credentials.

Digital credentials:

Can be shared quickly and are tamper-proof.
Allow companies to control their data.
Guarantee the integrity of the information.
Preserve privacy in business-to-business interactions.

Digital Trust Ecosystem: EMDT Pilot

EMDT has been testing and refining their technology and governance through multiple pilot projects to demonstrate how sustainability reporting can be made more efficient and trustworthy. Two pilot projects explore greenhouse gas emissions reporting in the mining sector and the natural gas sector. These pilots allow participants to test sharing and receiving digital credentials that include verified GHG emissions data for a specific mine site or natural gas facility.

*Because this is a pilot, the process depicted in this diagram does not satisfy or replace existing regulatory reporting obligations.

The greenhouse gas (GHG) mining pilot builds upon the existing regulatory emissions reporting process in British Columbia. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), an environmental auditor, issues a digital credential to Copper Mountain Mining Company containing verified GHG data. Copper Mountain can then use the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Report Verification Credential as part of their GHG emissions report to British Columbia’s Climate Action Secretariat. Copper Mountain can use the same digital credential to complete voluntary reporting to organizations such as the Open Earth Foundation.

Increased Connections

To facilitate the broad exchange of sustainability data, EMDT used Hyperledger Indy and Hyperledger Aries to create a highly interoperable tool, called Traction. Traction is an API accelerator built on top of Hyperledger Aries Cloud Agent Python (ACA-PY). Traction streamlines the process of sending and receiving digital credentials for governments and organizations.

Hyperledger Aries makes Traction highly interoperable with the technological solutions of companies and organizations around the world. “While two wallets might be different implementations or might be written in different code, they can still exchange data because both wallets use Aries,” explains Kyle Robinson, EMDT’s Senior Strategic Advisor.

Traction makes it easier to integrate digital trust technology into existing lines of business:

API-first Architecture: Traction is designed with an API-first architecture. This RESTful API allows for integration into existing line-of-business applications already being used by organizations. The Tenant user interface is built on this API to enable adoption prior to integration and for low-use functions.
Multitenancy: ACA-Py is implemented on a cloud-based server so multiple wallets can be managed with one Traction instance.
Higher Scalability: Traction is open-source technology, encouraging collaborative refinement, faster release, and higher scalability of the technology.

Collaborative Climate Change Progress

With an increasing emphasis on responsibly sourced products, simplified methods for exchanging sustainability data ensures that B.C. natural resource providers can compete in a global market. Digital trust technology streamlines access to trustworthy sustainability data, allowing businesses, governments, and non-government organizations to work towards climate change goals more efficiently and effectively. Visit our website to learn more about Energy & Mines Digital Trust.

Mar 29

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Hyperledger-Powered Solutions Helping to Reshape Healthcare

By Hyperledger Blog, Healthcare, Hyperledger Fabric, Hyperledger Firefly

For decades, the healthcare industry has faced the challenge of juggling a huge (and growing) amount of patient, payer, provider and pharmaceutical data with managing accuracy, access, security and privacy. There has been continuous innovation and investment aimed at breaking down information silos and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of data reporting and sharing. Hyperledger technologies power an increasing number of the solutions that are taking on these challenges head on and creating new models for the industry.

Read on for a sampling of these Hyperledger-powered solutions and the ways they are helping to streamline a range of critical healthcare processes. And join the conversation using #HyperledgerHealth on social channels.

Avaneer Network

Founded by a consortium that includes Aetna, Anthem, Cigna, Cleveland Clinic, HCSC, IBM, The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc., and Sentara Healthcare, Avaneer Health has built a private, secure, and trusted technical healthcare network where stakeholders can collaborate to streamline and improve the healthcare experience while increasing administrative efficiency. The Avaneer Network leverages Hyperledger Fabric-based blockchain technologies to ensure privacy, security and content-based use of data. Participants connecting to the Avaneer Network have access to a range of solutions for securely transacting and administering healthcare and deploy innovative solutions that streamline processes. The first network participants, all founding members of the consortium, represent 80 million covered lives and 14 million annual patient visits.

IBM Digital Health Pass

IBM Digital Health Pass, built on Hyperledger Fabric, offers a multi-credential verifier that organizations can use to manage and execute their verification policies for COVID-19 and vaccination status in a way that balances the privacy of the individual with the requirements set by the organization and local health authorities. With IBM Digital Health Pass, organizations can verify multiple types of COVID-19 health credentials, such as Good Health Pass, IBM Digital Health Pass, Smart Health Card and EU Digital COVID Certificate. Privacy is central to the solution, where the verifier application minimizes the personal data that is ever displayed to the user through the execution of business rules and it never lets any personal data leave, or be stored in, the verifier app.

KrypC Pharmaceutical Delivery Supply Chain Solution

KrypC’s pharmaceutical supply chain solution uses Hyperledger Fabric to connect pharmaceutical manufacturers and carriers to collaborate on the safe delivery of drugs. The solution focuses on end-to-end traceability to provide an audit trail for the efficacy of drugs by capturing and verifying information such as the manufacturing date, location in transit, and more. With multiple handoffs across handling agents across continents, there is a crucial need for trusted, end-to-end visibility of pharmaceutical shipments, conditions, and documents. With this solution, Kypc leverages blockchain’s inherent ability to trace drug provenance and create an immutable record of the lifecycle of a drug and how it was handled to address the challenges the pharmaceutical industry faces, both in sourcing and distributing drugs.

Synaptic Health Alliance Decentralized Provider Data Directory

The Synaptic Health Alliance is a coalition of healthcare leaders working to solve their industry’s toughest problems through blockchain technology. Their objective is to create a blockchain-powered platform that enables a culture of innovation, removes friction and solves the shared challenges impacting constituents across health care today.

For their first application, they tackled the challenge of providing healthcare organizations with accurate provider demographic data. Today, healthcare organizations typically collect provider demographic data in separate IT systems maintained by each organization independently. This promotes vast inefficiencies and duplication of efforts (costing roughly $2.1 billion across the industry), while also potentially reducing data quality.

To solve this, Synaptic created a blockchain-based Decentralized Provider Data Directory leveraging Kaleido and the capabilities of Hyperledger FireFly. Through the power of blockchain, participants are now able to crowdsource provider demographics. Token economics incentivize the creation of accurate data, which can then be used by other providers to update their own records, reducing duplication of effort, streamlining administration, and saving money.

Ongoing activity in the space is driven by the very active Hyperledger Healthcare Special Interest Group (SIG), which unites healthcare professionals and technologists from around the world in advancing the state of the healthcare industry through the implementation of technology solutions using blockchain technologies in general, and the umbrella of Hyperledger frameworks and toolsets in specific. It includes subgroups focused on patients, payers and healthcare interoperability.

Cover image: Pixabay