Dubbed the Industry Marketplace, Iota’s new product is a joint initiative that aims to accelerate industrial automation and commercial machine interaction, the organization announced in a blog post on Sept. 19.
Non-profit blockchain organization Iota Foundation has released a platform enabling a decentralized and autonomous industrial marketplace.
Serving as a vendor and industry-neutral platform that automates the trade of physical and digital goods and services, the blog claims the Industry Marketplace to be the world’s first autonomous and decentralized virtual marketplace.
World’s first autonomous and decentralized virtual marketplace
The initiative is a collaboration between a number of firms, including German IoT startup Neoception and WeWash, the first innovation arm by the largest European manufacturer of home appliances, BSH Hausgeräte, and many others.
Not limited to manufacturing
Specifically, the Industry Marketplace, which is now available in demo version, intends to facilitate a secure interaction and payment platform for the full industrial ecosystem while ensuring the authenticity of all participants and enabling decentralized exchange.
The platform complies with specifications developed by Germany’s central network for digital manufacturing transformation Plattform Industrie 4.0 and deploys basic components such as blockchain, immutable logs, machine-readable contracts and an integrated decentralized identity system, the blog post notes.
According to the project’s website, the use cases of the Industry Marketplace are not limited to the manufacturing industry, as its concept can be used in all industries that require automation. This includes smart cities, energy, mobility and connected vehicles, among others.
Iota Introduces Chronicle, a New Solution for Long-Term Data Storage
Iota has introduced Chronicle, a permanode solution that will allow its node owners to easily store all of their transactions and maintain uninterrupted access to that data.
Iota’s unlimited storage solution
On Sept. 17, the Iota Foundation announced Chronicle, which allows node owners to store all the data of the Tangle and quickly access that data when needed over an indefinite length of time.
Before Chronicle, node owners of the IoT-based cryptocurrency project, faced issues that were directly related to limited storage, as transactions quickly filled up the database. Iota attempted to resolve this by introducing local snapshots allowing node owners to delete old transactions and keep their database small.
However, this was only partially successful, as this solution was not suitable for types of data that needed to be stored for long periods of time.
Iota will offer grants
In the future, the Iota Foundation plans to further extend the functionality and capabilities of Chronicle. The foundation invited the community to be part of this. The foundation also said they intend to issue grants in developing and expanding the notion of permanodes.
Jaguar and Iota
Cointelegraph reported in August that the distributed ledger technology (DLT) company IOTA has partnered with auto manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover for a proof-of-concept (PoC) demonstration for tracing car energy with DLT.
Russell Vickers, the manager of Jaguar Land Rover’s group, commented on what he believed this PoC suggests for the future of energy-conscious smart cities. He remarked:
“This agile initiative demonstrates vividly how cities can transform both infrastructure and transportation into a sustainable and mutually beneficial ecosystem. We are excited to let the public see how energy-positive buildings and vehicles such as the I-Pace in this demonstration can create positive sustainability innovation in line with Jaguar Land Rover’s Destination Zero strategy.”
IoT App Nodle Moves From Stellar Blockchain to Polkadot
Another blockchain project is heading to the Polkadot Network.Launched in 2017, Internet-of-Things (IoT) platform Nodle announced it is switching from the Stellar blockchain to Parity Technologies’ Substrate network, according to a blog post shared in advance with CoinDesk. Substrate lets teams customize their own blockchains; Nodle’s is called Arcadia.
Nodle provides “last mile” support for IoT devices through connections to smartphones. The network claims to have had recently been averaging roughly 1 million daily microtransactions over the Stellar blockchain.
The protocol joins security token platform Polymath as the second network in recent months to ditch an incumbent blockchain for Polkadot. Polymath left the Ethereum blockchain due to governance concerns, the firm said last November.
In the same vein, Nodle said Stellar does not have the blockchain functions needed to deliver on promises from the startup’s white paper.
“We really like Stellar, but it definitely became clear when we crossed over a million microtransactions that we needed to build our own blockchain”, Nodle spokesperson Daren McKelvey told CoinDesk in a phone interview.
Nodle blockchain architect Eliott Teissonniere said Nodle found Substrate to be more “modular” for future development, a nod to Polkadot’s intent to create a governance-friendly (and interoperable) blockchain network.
“It’s also a self-amending ledger, which means that the network can upgrade itself, add new features, or deploy bug-fixes in a matter of minutes, all without having to fork it”, the Nodle blog states.
Notably, Nodle hinted at a future bridge between Stellar and Arcadia, and therefore Substrate, via a “future upgrade.” The interoperability project between the two blockchains would be the first of many, the team indicated.
