Microsoft and R3 consortium team up to build enterprise-grade blockchain platform

R3CEV, a blockchain alliance composed of 42 international banks, announced that it has officially established a partnership with technology giant Microsoft. R3CEV is committed to researching blockchain technology , and its members include JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs Group, etc.

The full partnership, which was first tested by a small group of R3 members in January, will see the consortium use Microsoft’s Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) platform.

Charley Cooper, managing director of R3, told CoinDesk that the formal partnership follows a series of tests with other potential partners, including Amazon and IBM, and that a five-person Microsoft team is now working directly with consortium members.

Cooper told CoinDesk:

“Through experimentation, we began to realize that Microsoft had both human and technical expertise that made them an ideal partner.”

Under the non-exclusive agreement, Microsoft will make 45 cloud tools available through its Azure platform, including those created by ConsenSys, Ripple, Eris Industries, Factom, BitPay and other startups.

In addition to software, Microsoft has also established a team of professional technical architects, project managers, lab assistants and logistics personnel to collaborate with global R3CEV alliance members.

R3CEV’s work on its partnership with Microsoft comes after 11 R3 consortium members, including Barclays, Credit Suisse and Well Fargo, completed testing of a private version of the ethereum network using Microsoft’s Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) platform in January.

Peggy Johnson, executive vice president of Microsoft Worldwide Business Development, said:

“R3 and its member banks will experiment and learn quickly to accelerate the deployment of distributed ledger technology. Moreover, our collaboration will create unlimited potential to reshape business processes and innovate industries .”

Page also wrote in a separate blog post that Microsoft's collaboration with R3CEV will help streamline back-end operations, potentially saving the company billions of dollars.

In the coming weeks and months, Cooper said he expects to expand the scope of his work with Microsoft, though that will depend on how the company progresses with its consortium of banks.

Cooper said:

“We believe that the cooperation between Microsoft and R3CEV will not be limited to a few trials, but will be a long-term cooperation.”