Fujitsu and Accenture launch new project to advance blockchain

Fujitsu and Accenture have announced a new joint project titled 'Hyperledger Cactus' by Hyperledger and hosted by the Linux Foundation.

The project is described as an open source collaborative effort designed to advance cross-industry blockchain technologies.

According to their initial proposal to the community, the companies are looking to develop an open source software (OSS) project for secure and reliable integration between multiple blockchains.

Hyperledger executive director Brian Behlendorf says, "Hyperledger Cactus has moved quickly through the process of becoming a Hyperledger project thanks to the support and initial code contributions of Accenture and Fujitsu and a compelling use case.

"There is strong community interest in facilitating the flow of information and transactions across disparate blockchains, and Hyperledger Cactus is tackling that challenge.

"Now that Hyperledger Cactus is a full Hyperledger project, there will be an even bigger pool of resources and contributors driving this project forward with the aim of delivering market-ready blockchain integration technologies."

Accenture, Fujitsu Laboratories and FLA will utilise the Fujitsu Laboratories' proprietary security technology ConnectionChain to develop an infrastructure software that enables simpler development of integrated services in which multiple different blockchains work together.  The companies have open sourced the software for Hyperledger Cactus.

According to the companies, the project aims to develop the foundation for a new architecture that will eliminate differences such as the timing of transactions between multiple blockchains, enabling asset transfers and recovery from transaction errors.

The new open source technology aims to create a modular, extensible system that will enable integration, communication, operations and transactions between different blockchains.

The companies will also offer a Software Development Kit as an OSS to offer services that integrate multiple blockchains for software developers.

As an example, by applying the infrastructure of Hyperledger Cactus in car-sharing services, a new service can be created in which a driver can temporarily use a car in exchange for transferring private coins, while linking a car-sharing service blockchain that manages the rights of car usage, with a blockchain handling private coins.

According to the companies, conventional blockchains cannot integrate different blockchains or get excess money back from remitted coins, whereas the Hyperledger Cactus framework automatically links different blockchains.

Furthermore, the technology can monitor the results of such operations, enabling the rapid development of integrated services that combine multiple blockchains.

When discussing the need for the Hyperledger Cactus project, the companies state blockchains are difficult to modify and do not require central management, and therefore are increasingly being used in non-financial areas such as content management and rights management.

Prior to this project in November 2017, Fujitsu Laboratories developed a proprietary security technology ConnectionChain to safely interconnect blockchains with varying implementation methods and objectives. The software for exchanging different private coins was made freely available as an OSS.

Under the new project Hyperledger Cactus, Fujitsu Laboratories and FLA will integrate the ConnectionChain technology with Accenture's Blockchain Integration Framework to jointly develop a platform for interconnecting blockchains and further activate digital transformation.

Going forward, Accenture, Fujitsu Laboratories and FLA plan to develop an infrastructure software that will integrate different blockchains to securely and reliably work together while making these now available as OSS for Hyperledger.