News

AWS Announces Blockchain Services

• By David Ramel
• 11/28/2018

Amazon Web Services Inc. (AWS) announced two new blockchain-related services at its re:Invent conference in Las Vegas.

While both use blockchain technology, one service -- Amazon Quantum Ledger Database (QLDB) -- involves the use of a trusted central authority, while the other -- Amazon Managed Blockchain -- doesn't require such a trusted, central authority.

The company said both services help companies manage business transactions that require full auditability.

"Amazon QLDB is a transparent, immutable, and cryptographically verifiable ledger for applications that need a central, trusted authority to provide a permanent and complete record of transactions (for example, supply chain, financial, manufacturing, insurance, and HR)," the company said in a news release today (Nov. 28). "For customers who want to build applications where multiple parties can execute transactions without the need for a trusted, central authority, Amazon Managed Blockchain makes it easy to create and manage scalable blockchain networks using the popular, open source Ethereum and Hyperledger Fabric frameworks."

The QLDB provides a SQL-like API that may be familiar to data developers, without the need to manage or configure servers. Like many other AWS services, it scales automatically to meet application demand and incurs costs only for what resources are used. It's now available as a preview offering, for which interested developers can sign up here.

Amazon Managed Blockchain is also in preview. "It manages your certificates, lets you easily invite new members to join the network, and tracks operational metrics such as usage of compute, memory, and storage resources," AWS said. "In addition, Managed Blockchain can replicate an immutable copy of your blockchain network activity into Amazon Quantum Ledger Database (QLDB), a fully managed ledger database. This allows you to easily analyze the network activity outside the network and gain insights into trends."