Microsoft to launch first blockchain service via Ethereum

BlockApps, a company that provides Ethereum blockchain software for enterprises, has become the first company to be certified on Microsoft’s Azure Blockchain Service marketplace.

According to the latest news, Microsoft also announced that asset trading provider AlphaPoint and IoT micropayment startup IOTA have joined Microsoft’s Azure blockchain service platform.

Although BlockApps is the first company to receive Microsoft certification, Microsoft has been steadily adding vendors to the blockchain testing environment since the platform was founded last October.

Marley Gray, director of Microsoft’s blockchain strategy program, called the news a “watershed moment,” saying:

“The simple, fast, flexible and one-click deployment of Ethereum blockchain infrastructure on the Microsoft Azure Marketplace enables enterprises and developers to quickly deploy a certified blockchain environment on Azure.”

Gray also believes the certification will accelerate enterprise blockchain development as it will enable companies to develop proofs of concepts (PoCs) and scale up to full production systems.

Important Milestones

The IT giant recently told CoinDesk that it plans to expand its Azure Blockchain Service platform to a “certified blockchain market” this spring, with the goal of providing support for “every blockchain” through Azure’s currently available test environment.

The BlockApps product layer is a single-node blockchain instance that can be used as a developer sandbox to test Ethereum blockchain applications. This product can also connect applications to private or public Ethereum blockchains through the company's API.

On the technical level, BlockApps products feature adjustable consensus-forming algorithms and transaction verification algorithms, such as instant rotating signature pools, proof-of-work and proof-of-stake transaction approval.

The company claims that the product enables application development in minutes if used in conjunction with Bloc, a web application development toolkit that supports core features of Ethereum’s Solidity smart contract language.

Gray also previously said that blockchain startups will need to undergo more stringent security certification audits this spring.

Original article: http://www.coindesk.com/microsoft-ethereum-startup-blockchain/
By Daniel Palmer
Compiled by: Kyle
Source (translation): Babbitt Information (http://www.8btc.com/microsoft-ethereum-blockchain-service)