Blockchain has shown its revolutionary potential, to transform the world, in almost every field of human endeavour. With its deployment in diverse domains like medical, finance, engineering, supply chain, government operations, cross-border trade, etc. the technology has proved itself to be scaled for much broader use next to Blockchain Development.
With the burgeoning demand and implementation of Blockchain, businesses have found ways to harness the power of this robust technology and have buckled up to offer Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS).
“A Cloud Service modality that aims to facilitate the use of Blockchain Technology.”
The emergence of BaaS has developed another type of market that forms an important part of the blockchain economy. Let’s delve deeper into the category and explore the new branch budding out of Blockchain.
Blockchain as a Service (BaaS)
BaaS has gained significant traction where this service allows consumers to use cloud-based solutions to build, host, and use their blockchain solutions, functions, and smart contracts. Third parties install and maintain blockchain networks for a company’s technologies and support them to build blockchain-powered products under an established blockchain ecosystem.
All in all, businesses offer fully functional blockchain platforms as per the customer needs.
(The developed blockchain landscape is monitored and administered by cloud-based service providers.)
Even though the concept adheres to the working and engagement principles similar to that of Software as a Service (SaaS), nevertheless, its adoption has accelerated the fixation of complex issues, facilitating transparency, efficiency, and cost at a recognizable level.
The advantages offered by the technology have urged many IT organizations to explore it strategically, but the inherent technical complexities and deficiency in domain expertise often led them to lose pace on the adoption plans.
Moreover, not every organization may need high authentication, or not all developers within an organization would have experience working on the platform. This what led big tech giants to adopt BaaS and offer blockchain integration solutions to better adopt, operate, and configure the technology for operational use.
The Working
Blockchain-as-a-Service works relatively with Blockchain as a service provider who is responsible for orchestrating the entire blockchain implementation and maintenance of its nodes.
As per the business needs, blockchain service providers handle all the backend and complex services while taking strenuous care of the crucial artefacts of blockchain technology like hosting requirements, security protocols, bandwidth management, optimisation of resources, and much more.
One can consider BaaS similar to web hosting. As you get various options of hosting your website with its maintenance like you manage to have your own server or a computer, or you hire staff for website handling or ultimately you opt for choosing a specialised company that hosts your website on their server and takes over all the responsibilities.
Blockchain-as-a-service works likewise where you get their complete network and is one of the best approaches for mass adoption of blockchain.
Top Features
#Quick Deployment
Get fast deployment of blockchain integration without complex configuration concerns. Blockchain-as-a-Service offers extensive services without any inconvenience or hassles.
#Application Access
To amplify the pace of application development, Baas offers blockchain SDKs, standard Fabric SDKs, built-in connection information, etc.
#Security Service
Keeping high on security, the service supports cryptographic algorithms and SGX security protection, creating a multi-dimensional blockchain security network.
#Organization Management
The service allows managing enterprises that are in business as well as the users of the organization and grants access to the blockchain application.
#Chain-code Management
BaaS allows managing chain codes (smart contracts) for overwriting installation and creating instances, and further updating them in the network.
#Permission Management
Allows enterprise-ready management and monitoring.
#Monitoring
The blockchain service gives real-time updates and automatic alerts of the state of the blockchain while monitoring connections to CloudMonitor.
Primary Elements to Evaluate Blockchain-as-a-Service
To value the adoption of Cloud with Blockchain (BaaS), here we list significant parameters that must be examined before betting on the service.
Take a rundown:
#Suitability of the service:
Depending on the context where you want to apply the blockchain, you have to take into account which implementation to use, the architecture of the solution, and find the right service that satisfies all the requirements of the case of use.
#Adaptability:
Here we refer to the possibilities offered by the corresponding service when configuring it to our liking: number of nodes, location of the same, consensus, time, sizes, etc.
#Cost:
Like all cloud services, this service has its associated cost. A detailed cost assessment is required, which varies depending on the use case and the service provider.
It is essential to carry out a preliminary analysis study in order to make the best decision. After all, like the technology itself, these services are evolving and there are times when it is better to deploy on-premises.
[Prefer Reading: Blockchain: What it Holds for Businesses Today?”]