According to Microsoft blog, the company announced the initial release of the Azure Blockchain Development Kit which is built on Microsoft’s serverless technologies and seamlessly integrates blockchain with the best of Microsoft and third-party SaaS.
Azure Blockchain Development Kit
The initial release will focus on three key themes: connecting interfaces, integrating data and systems, and deploying smart contracts and blockchain networks.
The product will purportedly enable individuals, organizations, and devices to connect to a blockchain via user interfaces. Microsoft says that the development kit includes SMS and voice interfaces, Internet of Things (IoT) device integration, support for mobile clients, bots, virtual assistants, and other related solutions.
Logic Apps
As per the blog by Marc Mercuri Principal Program Manager, Blockchain Engineering, a set of Logic Apps that enable the hashing of files and file related metadata. Also included are smart contracts for files and a file registry to store the hashes on chain.
Logic Apps have been created to deliver this functionality for files added to the most popular sources for documents and media, including Azure Storage, OneDrive, One Drive for Business, SharePoint, Box, Adobe Creative Cloud, and FTP.
Smart-contracts
Microsoft has also introduced a whitepaper dubbed “DevOps for Blockchain Smart Contracts,” explaining how to use the development kit for blockchain-based apps in certain business environments.
It was noted that the Azure Blockchain Development Kit shows how to implement CI/CD for smart contracts and infrastructure as code using Visual Studio Code, GitHub, Azure DevOps and OSS from Truffle.