Building an enterprise blockchain, developing apps using it, and deploying the apps on it need to have processes, methods, and tools that make it easier to use. Mumbai, India-based blockchain start-up Elemential is working on their Hadron and Federated Network Protocol (FNP) solutions, to do exactly that.
Wider adoption of blockchain requires big businesses to adopt it, and they will need to use enterprise blockchains, since fully open public blockchains where anonymous or pseudonymous entities can join won’t do for the enterprises. However, building enterprise blockchain requires developers to spend a large amount of time, a significant part of which goes into streamlining the administrative aspects, for e.g.:
- node deployment;
- configuration and maintenance activities;
- ensuring run-time and language dependencies are met;
- ensuring other nodes whitelist a new member’s IP address, open certain ports;
- making required changes to configuration files, for e.g. the genesis file.
- coordination when a member leaves the network.
It’s like how websites used to be created. The developer had to manage FTP-related tasks, do HTML editing, keep the code simple enough for search engines to be able to easily index the site, extend the functionality of the site with additional coding, and arrange for adding users with appropriate access level. Then, content management systems (CMSs) like WordPress were introduced, and website owners with little or no technical skills can now build, deploy and manage their websites, since administrative tasks are automated and one-click only with WordPress.
Elemential intends to solve this as following:
- Their node-level software is called “Hadron“;
- Their decentralized protocol for administrative communication and decision-making is called “Federated Network Protocol” (FNP);
- FNP will coordinate decision-making on important activities, for e.g. adding or removing network members, network topology design, and scaling up the network;
- FNP keeps track of the number of validators, and their health;
- Hadron leverages this monitoring done by FNP, and it’s able to predict point of failure;
- Hadron can create temporary validators that keep the network functional, and it also alerts the other participant.
- In case a validator node is nearing a crash, FNP activates a predictive correction feature.
Raunaq Vaisoha, the CEO of Elemential, and Anil Dukkipatty, the CTO, have significant experience with blockchain development, and they call their company the “WordPress of blockchain”. They want to create a solution that will work across private blockchains, i.e. an organization using Hyperledger Fabric could connect to Hyperledger Sawtooth used by another organization. Elemential also wants to create an administrative automation solution for public blockchains. The company is working with the National Stock Exchange (NSE) of India on a know-your-customer (KYC) compliance project, being built on a private blockchain.
