Blockchain Consortium Tackles Operationalization Headaches

Imagine if the operation of cloud computing is decentralized. And what if a network of data centers is not operated by a single entity (e.g. AWS or Alibaba Cloud), but a consortium of operators working together through public blockchains?

Operators worldwide within the consortium will have equal rights to determine service levels, pricing and management of these cloud services. It will provide greater operational transparency with easier access to a greater volume of interoperable data resources for their customers. Users can also access these cloud services via smart contracts for better traceability and flexibility in use. That is what the Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN) wants to implement.

The China-based BSN launched the BSN Spartan Network for the international markets last week. BSN Spartan Network is building a consortium of blockchain technology providers and aims to use non-cryptocurrency (NC) public chains to create a one-stop blockchain operating environment for businesses to develop, deploy and manage blockchain applications easily.

“The purpose of the BSN Spartan Network is to build an easily accessible public IT network consisting of multiple public NC chains to bring blockchain technologies to the broader IT industry, well beyond cryptocurrencies,” the network’s whitepaper states.

BSN Spartan Network is still in the beta stage. But it has attracted a few large enterprises, including Emperor Group, Prenetics, Lan Kwai Fong Group, Maxim’s, HSBC and Fujifilm Business Innovation Hong Kong, to explore building digital services through this blockchain-based consortium.

Tokenized gift redemption

celebrating 80^th anniversary, Emperor Group is a retail focused conglomerate covering a

wide range of businesses from watches and jewellery, property development and financial services to entertainment, digital media and hospitality.

According to Group CIO Leo Tsang, the company continuously uses technologies to create value for customers. One of the latest initiatives is to use blockchain and NFTs for customers to redeem movie souvenirs and prizes. To be launched in the upcoming movie campaigns, the service is expected to give customers a digitized experience in the gift redemption process and offer better traceability for the cinema’s loyalty program, which offers 40,000 gifts per month.

“Everyone likes to watch a movie; Therefore, it is a great starting point to introduce this technology to our customers and our businesses, says Tsang. “The NFTs are intended for verification in the gift redemption process and not for trading. However, customers are welcome to keep them as a memento.”

He added that this is the company’s first blockchain project. With public NC chains at BSN Spartan Network, Tsang said the company could create NFTs without worrying about the volatile cryptocurrency rates.

“We can never issue NFTs based on cryptocurrency like Ethereum as the cost will be too high and volatile,” he said. “This is just the first step for our customers and for us to get to know NFTs. We can later ride on this experience and scale it to build other applications in the group.”

Ownership of health data and payment processing

In addition, genetic and diagnostic health testing company Prenetics is also exploring the use of the BSN Spartan Network to give customers greater ownership of their personal health data.

Speaking at the BSN Spartan Global Summit, chief technology officer Peter Wong said Prenetics is creating a platform that allows an individual to authorize their health diagnostic reports to third parties, such as hospitals, clinics or airports. These reports will be stored in the individual’s private data vault within the blockchain-enabled platform.

“When customers share their reports with third parties, the content cannot be changed but can be proven by Prenetics,” Wong said. “They can also choose to share only the relevant test results, rather than all the reports.”

For better documentation transparency, Fujifilm Business Innovation Hong Kong (FBHK) is also exploring the use of blockchain with the BSN Spartan Network to build a service that securely stores and tokenizes digitally signed documents.

Alan Chan, director of marketing and supply chain management at FBHK said the company plans to create Semi-Fungible Tokens (SFTs) for the digitally signed documents to enable full traceability and improved security. It also lays the foundation for future automatic execution of smart contracts and business flows, such as processing payments.

Realizes Web3 with NC public chains

Positioned as a decentralized cloud service network, BSN Spartan Network is developed by Red Date Technologies. The Hong Kong-based company’s CEO Yifan He said it aims to build public IT system infrastructures, such as the BSN Spartan Network, for internet communications, digital economies and the metaverse.

“The core of Web3 is decentralization, with blockchain and smart contract as the critical element in the management and execution of operations,” said Emperor Group’s Tsang.

But it has been difficult for businesses to take part in Web3 or adopt blockchain by relying on the highly volatile cryptocurrency. Tsang added that the main reason the company decided to kickstart its first blockchain project with the BSN Spartan Network is its public NC chains.

On top of the BSN Spartan Network, BSN launched the Chinese version of a similar network BSN-DDC Network earlier this year. According to Tim Bailey, vice president of global sales, Red Date Technology, it handles more than one million daily transactions, which shows the potential of the international version.

Bailey added the BSN Foundation, the governing body of the BSN Spartan Network consortium, currently has five members, including Red Date Technology. The number of members is expected to reach 10 by the end of 2022 and up to 40 thereafter. This decentralized operation with NC public chain is expected to support general enterprises and their IT and digital teams with more accessible and affordable blockchain technologies, according to He.

“It [BSN Spartan Network] is technically not a blockchain, but a cloud project,” He said. “The entire BSN organization aims to push for public IT system concept to enable mainstream businesses and IT operations to use public chain technologies.”

Sheila Lam is the contributing editor of CDOTrends. She has covered IT for 20 years as a journalist, and has witnessed the rise, hype and maturity of various technologies, but is always excited about what happens next. You can reach her at [email protected].