On November 15th, Mark Mercuri, Microsoft released a cloud-based Azure Development Kit harnessing the capabilities of blockchain to seamlessly integrate with the best of Microsoft and third-party SaaS. The new product is designed to improve the capabilities of the Microsoft Azure Blockchain Workbench for DevOps, system-to-system integration and delivery of data. Marc Mercuri, a principal program manager of blockchain engineering at Microsoft explains in his blog how this kit will help businesses integrate and deploy with blockchain technology.
“This kit extends the capabilities of our blockchain developer templates and Azure Blockchain Workbench, which incorporates Azure services for key management, off-chain identity and data, monitoring, and messaging APIs into a reference architecture that can be used to rapidly build blockchain-based applications,” wrote Mercuri. “These tools have become the first step for many organizations on their journey to re-invent the way they do business.”
The New Microsoft Azure Blockchain Development Kit
The Azure Blockchain Development Kit has three main objectives: Integrate, Connect and Deploy
Blockchain Integration and Connectors
Businesses using blockchain require end-to-end integration with data, software and media that live “off the chain” if you have hybrid cloud or varying environments. Microsoft has developed smart contracts that can trigger actions and data updates to “off chain” systems and data all while enabling protection from tampering or hacking. The enables the kit to integrate with Internet of things (IoT) devices, virtual assistants, SMS and voice interfaces, bots and support for mobile clients. Microsoft has developed 200+ connectors available in Logic Apps and Flow enabling broader Azure integration. Microsoft provides a sample of the following areas:
- Legacy applications and protocols – Sending and receiving files via FTP, processing comma separated files and email delivery of data.
- Data – SQL, Azure Search, Excel, and PowerBI.
- SaaS – SharePoint, Dynamics, Outlook, and Gmail.
- Registries – An accelerator that generates a custom registry and registry item smart contracts to accommodate any scenario.
Blockchain Deployment
Enable to fully utilize blockchain technologies, businesses are asking for guidance on how to deliver DevOps for blockchain projects. With release Azure DevOps, the Azure Blockchain Development Kit can now implement smart contracts and infrastructure as code with Visual Studio, GitHub, Azure and other platforms. Microsoft has stepped up their game enabling support for other cloud platforms including AWS and GCP. Take advantage of blockchain deployment with an Azure migration from The Azure Cloud Experts.
Does your businesses require blockchain deployment architecture or support for Microsoft Azure? We can also help with Azure managed services to help keep your business running smoothly and securely.
