In a press release, IBM’s CTO, Jerry Cuomo, gave insight into the new system. He described the service as a fully-flexible blockchain platform. It’s also built around well-managed open source distributed ledger technology that can run in virtually any computing infrastructure.
More Features Added to the New Platform
The restructured IBM Blockchain Platform allows users to extend to public clouds like IBM Cloud, AWS and Azure, also on company-hosted private clouds like LinuxOne. App supports management and deployment platform, Kubernetes, have also been added.
Cuomo expects the hybrid and multi-cloud approach will allow blockchain networks to work effectively across multiple environments.
Additionally, the new IBM Blockchain Platform has some new and improved features. Among them is that it enables firms to manage the entire lifecycle of a blockchain network. For instance, the new IBM Blockchain Platform Extension for Visual Studio (VS) Code has been designed to simplify the complexities of building with blockchain. It helps users integrate their smart contract development and network management functions.
Cuomo further explained that developers can now easily move from development to test to production with a single console. Added to the extension are code samples and tutorials which aid any developer to easily become a blockchain developer. The IBM Blockchain Platform offers support for smart contracts which will be written in JavaScript, Java, and Go languages.
The platform also has the ability for projects to deploy blockchain components. But, this happens only where and when they are required and they’re all manageable in one place. Users also have complete control of identities, ledger and smart contracts. The offering also features a new pricing model which allows firms to start small and are required to just pay for the services they use, however, payments increase as they scale.
