This blogpost is one of a series of articles on the “Blockchain mit SAP” (Blockchain with SAP) book published in 2019 (Rheinwerk Verlag, Bonn, ISBN 978-3-8362-6914-8).
This article discusses the blockchain frameworks supported by the SAP Cloud Platform. Find out more about the possibilities provided by the various enterprise blockchains for getting your company ready for the decentralized future.
The SAP Cloud Platform currently supports the following blockchain frameworks:
- Hyperledger Fabric
- MultiChain
- Quorum
Technical development of blockchain is advancing rapidly, so the SAP Cloud Platform offers multiple, simultaneous versions of these frameworks. To ensure stability, however, only major releases are fully supported for productive use. Newer versions are extensively tested in trial accounts before being carried over for regular operations.
Hyperledger Fabric
Fabric is THE enterprise blockchain framework for business applications. Under leadership of the Linux Foundation, the Hyperledger Foundation has set itself the goal of developing open-source blockchain components for enterprise customers. The following diagram shows the Hyperledger Foundation’s many projects and initiatives.
From the diagram, it quickly becomes clear that Fabric is just one of many different projects. Originally developed by Digital Nation during a hackathon, it received further support from IBM before being handed over to the aegis of the Hyperledger Foundation.
Fabric is a permissive blockchain. This means a user has to be invited and install the required cryptographic artifacts, as the entire traffic between all participants is encrypted. Also interesting to note is that Hyperledger Fabric offers something called Channels, used to set up communication channels between groups of participants. Each channel thus in effect forms its own logical blockchain. Hyperledger Fabric also offers support for smart contracts, here referred to as chaincode. These are programs and data models that are uploaded to the blockchain and can automate transactions. The SAP Cloud Platform supports the use of Version 1.4 of Hyperledger Fabric in productive environments. Blockchain Explorer is also offered for visualization of the transactions stored in the blockchain.
MultiChain
MultiChain is a Bitcoin derivative with optional enhanced encryption features for use in private or federated networks. Version 1.x does not support smart contracts, instead providing only the advantages of an immutable audit trail – the forgery-proof and immutable storage of data in the blockchain. Version 1.x is fully supported by SAP Cloud for applications in production environments.
The new 2.0 version of MultiChain is also available on the SAP Cloud Platform and offers support for programming smart contracts, called Smart Filters here. These, however, are once again only available for trial accounts and non-productive environments at the time of writing.
MultiChain offers simplified entry into the world of the blockchain, because it makes it possible to explore its basic features – such as ensuring data cannot be altered – without being forced immediately into difficult areas like the programming of smart contracts.
Quorum
Quorum is an Ethereum derivative developed by the US bank J.P. Morgan. It adds data protection and privacy options to the blockchain, making it ready for inter-enterprise use in private networks. Like MultiChain 2.0, Quorum is in the SAP Cloud Platform’s extended testing phases and cannot be used in production environments. But Quorum is fully supported in the Camelot Hypertrust Platform.
And Ethereum?
It may seem strange that Ethereum is not among the supported SAP Cloud Platform frameworks, given that it is the basis for Quorum. As it’s technically feasible to run Quorum in the SAP Cloud, it should be just as easy to get Ethereum running. However, at least for the moment, it is not supported as a framework in the SAP Cloud Platform.
Still, we at Camelot ITLab have picked up the baton for this blockchain framework that is so appealing to enterprise customers, supporting it alongside Quorum and Hyperledger Fabric as part of our Hypertrust Platform.
Contact us to find out how the Hypertrust Blockchain Platform can also automate decentralized, forgery-proof solutions for your company!
More articles of this series can be found here:
- Blockchain with SAP: What is Blockchain and How Does It Work?
- Blockchain with SAP: Cloud Computing from SAP: The SAP Cloud Platform
- Blockchain with SAP: Business application scenarios for blockchains
- Blockchain with SAP: The First Steps to Having Your Own Blockchain
- Blockchain with SAP: Developing Applications with Hyperledger Fabric
- Blockchain with SAP: Developing Blockchain Applications with Hyperledger Fabric
- Blockchain with SAP: SAP HANA Integration
- Blockchain with SAP: MultiChain Applications
- Blockchain with SAP: MultiChain Applications
- Blockchain with SAP: Hybrid Network Architecture and Camelot Hypertrust Platform
- Blockchain with SAP: Summary and outlook
Do you want to learn more about the Hyperledger Fabric, MultiChain, or Quorum blockchain frameworks or about the possibilities of our flexible Camelot Hypertrust Platform? In our book “Blockchain mit SAP”, we detail the advantages of running these frameworks alongside the SAP Cloud Platform. A detailed extract from the bookis available on the publisher’s website.
