Dive Brief:
- Amazon has made its Amazon Managed Blockchain generally available after a pilot of the service, the company announced this week. The fully-managed service "takes care of provisioning nodes, setting up the network, managing certificates and security, and scaling the network," Rahul Pathak, the general manager of Amazon Managed Blockchain at AWS, said in a statement.
- The service makes it easier to connect multiple AWS accounts with blockchain technology, which allows for transactions to be stored in an unchangeable infrastructure.
- AT&T and Nestlé are among the companies already using Amazon Managed Blockchain, Amazon said.
Dive Insight:
Supply chain implementations of the blockchain service are among the first use cases highlighted by Amazon.
Nestlé is using the technology to provide greater visibility into its supply chain, Armin Nehzat, digital technology manager at Nestlé Oceania, said in the press release.
"Transparency in supply chains is increasingly important to consumers, who want to know what is in their food and where it comes from. While Nestlé has begun to release information on its supply chains for its 15 key commodities, using blockchain technology enables a more precise tracking," Nehzat said.
The Amazon Managed Blockchain allows supply chain partners to be easily invited to join the blockchain, he explained.
Eddie Shek, chief strategy officer at TrackX, said blockchain could help improve the reverse logistics process.
"Blockchain technology has the potential to increase the speed at which we track and reconcile returnable and reusable assets such as beer kegs, intermediate bulk containers, and plastic pallets," Shek said in the same press release.
Amazon Managed Blockchain is billing itself as a way to begin using this technology without having to hire costly consultants and invest in what can be a time-consuming process. "Customers can now get a functioning blockchain network set up quickly and easily, so they can focus on application development instead of keeping a blockchain network up and running," Pathak said.
