In what's being billed as a huge milestone for blockchain developers, Hyperledger – a collaborative launched by the Linux Foundation to advance blockchain technologies in healthcare and elsewhere – has gone live with its Hyperledger Fabric 1.0 platform.

Launched as an open source foundation for developing blockchain and distributed ledger applications, Hyperledger Fabric was developed by more than 150 engineers from 28 organizations such as Arxan, Cloudsoft, Fujitsu, GE, IBM and SAP.

Hyperledger Fabric's modular architecture allows components such as consensus and membership services to be plug-and-play, officials said. It leverages container technology to host smart contracts, known as "chaincode," that comprise the application logic of the system.

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The aim is an open framework that will enable organizations to build and run industry-specific apps, platforms and hardware systems – whether focused on healthcare, the internet of things, supply chain or beyond.

"After over a year of public collaboration, testing, and validation in the form of POCs and pilots, consumers and vendors of technology based on Hyperledger Fabric can now advance to production deployment and operations," said Brian Behlendorf, executive director of Hyperledger. "I look forward to seeing even more products and services being powered by Hyperledger Fabric in the next year and beyond."

Healthcare will surely be a key focus as technology developers make use of the platform to develop apps that could address an array of use cases.

For instance, Hyperledger has a Healthcare Working Group, with members including Accenture and Kaiser Permanente, devoted to exploring potential places where blockchain tech could improve efficiency, interoperability, security and efficiency.

Early focuses of the workgroup include establishing registries, interoperability and identities, and will shift toward more evolved applications such as smart contracts and process automation.

"The power of open source is the power of collaborative ideas," said Merve Unuvar, blockchain product leader at IBM. "The Hyperledger Healthcare Working Group enables Healthcare enterprises, providers and users to focus resources on a scalable open source project to leverage collaboration."

Twitter: @MikeMiliardHITN
Email the writer: mike.miliard@himssmedia.com

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