Microsoft has today announced the Coco Framework, a new open-source system for high-scale blockchain networks. The release is a part of the company's commitment to bring blockchain solutions to enterprise customers on Azure.
In its announcement, Microsoft calls blockchain a “transformational technology”. The company envisions enterprise customers embracing the security and prediction benefits of blockchain.
Coco Framework is an extension of this vision. The system meets all enterprise requirements and accelerates the adoption of blockchain. With the framework, Azure customers get a solution for scalability, security, and governance.
Microsoft says the qualities of Coco are achievable without needing to relinquish security and performance. Built from current blockchain protocols and trusted execution environments (TEEs) like Windows Virtual Secure Mode (VSM), Coco gives blockchain ready customers the following abilities:
- Throughput and latency approaching database speeds.
- Richer, more flexible, business-specific confidentiality models.
- Network policy management through distributed governance.
- Support for non-deterministic transactions.
Microsoft says open sourcing the system was the best way to drive development:
“Coco can only benefit from the diverse and talented open source communities that are driving blockchain innovation today. While Coco started as a collaboration between Azure and Microsoft Research, it has benefitted from the input of dozens of customers and partners already. Opening up Coco is a way to scale development far beyond the reach and imagination of our initial working group, and our intent is to contribute the source code to the community in early 2018.”
Coco Framework Availability
When released, Coco will work with any ledger protocol and will function on premises or in the cloud. Microsoft says this all-encompassing compatibility was a focus through development. The framework also works with any operating system.
Microsoft says Coco Framework will make its debut in early 2018 as an open source code. Currently, the company is still preparing the system for release. However, a technical whitepaper and demonstrations have gone live today.
