DOCSLIB.ORG

Potentials of Blockchain Technologies in Manufacturing

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Potentials of Blockchain Technologies in Manufacturing SCUOLA DI INGEGNERIA INDUSTRIALE E DELL’INFORMAZIONE Laurea Magistrale in Ingegneria Gestionale Potentials of Blockchain Technologies in Manufacturing: Study of applicability of Blockchain technology in manufacturing: Blockchain typologies, manufacturing scenarios, application benefits and technology constraints. Supervisor: Prof. Marco TAISCH Co-Supervisor: Ing. Claudio PALASCIANO Master of Science Thesis of: Simone VACCA TORELLI 905294 Academic Year: 2018/19 This page is intentionally left blank 1 “So, the problem is not so much to see what nobody has yet seen, as to think what nobody has yet thought concerning that which everybody sees.” Arthur Schopenhauer. 2 This page is intentionally left blank 3 Acknowledgements The process of writing this thesis has been both challenging and an invaluable learning experience. The writing of this thesis would not have been possible without the help of several knowledgeable and resourceful people, and I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincerest gratitude for their assistance. First, I would like to show my deepest gratitude to my academic supervisor, Prof. Marco Taisch, and, in particular, to my co-supervisor, Eng. Claudio Palasciano, for giving me the opportunity to work on this thesis and for the feedbacks that I have received which have been highly useful in setting the structure and the direction of this thesis. Lastly, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude and appreciation to my family and friends, for always supporting me and being there for me throughout all my studies. Thank you! Milan, December 2019. 4 This page is intentionally left blank 5 Abstract This thesis analyses the possibility of application of the innovative Blockchain technology within Manufacturing, taking into consideration different application scenarios, the possible resulting benefits and the technological constraints. Thanks to the diffusion of Bitcoins, which have gained great notoriety in recent years, the Blockchain has attracted the attention not only of researchers but also of investors who have begun to investigate the possibility of using this technology in other areas as well. Therefore, in this thesis this technology is first examined from an informatics point of view to understand the basic working mechanism and to find out what are the motivations that make it so interesting and so versatile; then the phenomenon of the fourth industrial revolution, the so-called Industry 4.0, is investigated in order to contextualize the current production scenario and the technologies with which the manufacturing world is evolving; finally, the definition of a decision-making framework will make it possible to establish the applicability of the Blockchain within different industrial applications taking into account the main technologies with which it will have to interface, the requirements it will have to respect and the benefits it will bring. 6 This page is intentionally left blank 7 Abstract (Italian Version) La tesi analizza la possibilità di applicazione della innovativa tecnologia Blockchain all’interno del Manufacturing, tenendo in considerazioni diversi scenari di applicazione, i possibili benefici risultanti ed i vincoli tecnologici. Grazie alla diffusione dei Bitcoin, che hanno acquisito una grande notorietà negli ultimi anni, la Blockchain ha richiamato l’attenzione non solo di ricercatori ma anche di investitori che hanno iniziato ad indagare la possibilità di utilizzare questa tecnologia anche in altri ambiti. Pertanto, in questa tesi viene dapprima analizzata questa tecnologia da un punto di vista informatico per capire il meccanismo base di funzionamento e per scoprire quali sono le motivazioni che la rendono così interessante e così versatile; quindi viene analizzato il fenomeno della quarta rivoluzione industriale, il cosiddetto Industry 4.0, al fine di contestualizzare al meglio l’attuale scenario produttivo e le tecnologie con cui il mondo del Manufacturing si sta evolvendo; infine, la definizione di un framework decisionale permetterà di stabilire l’applicabilità della Blockchain all’interno di diverse applicazioni industriali tenendo conto delle principali tecnologie con cui essa dovrà interfacciarsi, dei requisiti che dovrà rispettare e dei benefici che potrà portare. 8 This page is intentionally left blank 9 SUMMARY Acknowledgements ............................................................................................ 4 Abstract ............................................................................................................. 6 Abstract (Italian Version) .................................................................................. 8 Table of Figures ................................................................................................. 14 Table of Tables ..................................................................................................18 Table of Acronyms ........................................................................................... 20 1) Introduction to the Research ........................................................................ 22 2) Introduction to the Blockchain Technology .................................................. 24 2.1) What Blockchain Is ................................................................................. 24 2.1.1) History: from the Hash-Chain to the Bitcoin Block-Chain ..................................... 24 2.1.2) Main Elements of a Blockchain .............................................................................. 26 2.1.2.1) Centralised, Decentralised, Distributed systems .............................................. 26 2.1.2.2) Blocks in the Blockchain .................................................................................. 27 2.1.2.3) Mining .............................................................................................................. 27 2.1.2.3.1) Rewards and Transactions Fees ................................................................. 28 2.1.2.4) Hash Value ....................................................................................................... 29 2.1.2.4.1) Hash Algorithm: SHA256 .......................................................................... 29 2.1.2.5) The Timestamp ................................................................................................. 30 2.1.2.6) The Genesis Block ............................................................................................. 31 2.1.2.7) Digital signature: Public & Private Key Pairs ................................................... 32 2.2) How Blockchain Works .......................................................................... 34 2.2.1) Stepping through key elements of Blockchain: ...................................................... 34 2.2.2) Network Propagation of the Blockchain ................................................................ 42 2.2.2.1) Block Size and Propagation Delay .................................................................... 43 2.2.2.2) Blocks Dissemination and Forks ..................................................................... 44 2.2.2.3) Improving Network Propagation Speed .......................................................... 47 2.2.3) Fork Classes and Hard & Soft Types ...................................................................... 47 2.2.4) Scalability and the Trilemma ................................................................................. 49 2.2.5) Access Control ........................................................................................................ 54 2.2.6) Consensus Mechanism ........................................................................................... 57 2.2. Unanimity in unreliable distributed systems: The Byzantine Generals Problem . 58 2.2.6.1.1 Illustration of the problem .......................................................................... 59 2.2.6.1.2 Solutions to the problem ............................................................................. 59 2.2.6.2 Consensus Algorithm ........................................................................................ 60 2.2.6.2.1 Classification of Consensus Algorithms ...................................................... 60 2.2.6.2.1.1) Proof of Work (PoW) ............................................................................ 61 2.2.6.2.1.2) Proof of Stake (PoS) ............................................................................ 65 2.2.6.2.1.3) Delayed Proof of Work (dPoW) .......................................................... 66 2.2.6.2.1.4) Delegated Proof of Stake (dPoS) ......................................................... 67 10 2.2.6.2.1.5) Leased Proof of Stake (lPoS) ............................................................... 68 2.2.6.2.1.6) Proof of Authority (PoA) ..................................................................... 69 2.2.6.2.1.7) Proof of Reputation (PoRep) .............................................................. 69 2.2.6.2.1.8) Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET) ............................................................ 70 2.2.6.2.1.9) Proof of Space (PoSp) ......................................................................... 70 2.2.6.2.1.10) Proof of History (PoH) ....................................................................... 71 2.2.6.2.1.11) Proof of Stake Velocity (PoSV) ........................................................... 71 2.2.6.2.1.12) Proof of Importance (PoI) ................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Digital World Bug: Y2k38 an Integer Overflow Threat-Epoch
    International Journal of Computer Sciences and Engineering Open Access Review Paper Volume-5, Issue-3 E-ISSN: 2347-2693 Digital World Bug: Y2k38 an Integer Overflow Threat-Epoch S. Harshini1*, K.R. Kavyasri2 , P. Bhavishya3, T. Sethukkarasi4 1*Department of Computer Science and Engineering, R.M.K Engineering College, Chennai ,India 2Department of Computer Science and Engineering, R.M.K Engineering College, Chennai ,India 3Department of Computer Science and Engineering, R.M.K Engineering College, Chennai ,India 4Department of Computer Science and Engineering, R.M.K Engineering College Chennai ,India *Corresponding Author: [email protected] Available online at: www.ijcseonline.org Received:12/Feb/2017 Revised: 20/Feb/2017 Accepted: 10/Mar/2017 Published: 31/Mar/2017 Abstract-: Digital universe has been menaced by plenty of bugs but only a few seemed to pose a great hazard. Y2K,Y2K10 were the most prominent bugs which were blown away. And now we have Y2K38. The Y2K38 bug, if not resolved, it will get hold off the predictions that were made for the Y2K bug would come face reality this time. Y2K38 bug will affect all the system applications and most of the embedded systems which use signed 32 bit format for representing the internal time. The number of seconds which can be represented using this signed 32 bit format is 2,147,483,647 which will be equal to the time 19, January, 2038 at 03:14:07 UTC(Coordinated Universal Time),where the bug is expected to hit the web. After this moment the systems will stop working correctly.
    [Show full text]
  • Long Cycles: a Bridge Between Past and Futures Professor Adrian Pop, Ph.D. Lecturer Răzvan Grigoras, Ph.D
    6th International Conference on Future-Oriented Technology Analysis (FTA) – Future in the Making Brussels, 4-5 June 2018 Long Cycles: A Bridge between Past and Futures Professor Adrian Pop, Ph.D. National University of Political Science and Public Administration, Bucharest, e-mail: [email protected] Lecturer R ăzvan Grigoras, Ph.D. National Defence University “Carol I”, Bucharest, e-mail: [email protected] Abstract Developing an anti-fragile behaviour by enhancing foresight capacity is a mandatory asset in the risk society. Cycles of continuity and change are preferred topics in the fields of history, economics, and international relations. Although centred on the past, the long cycles theory in general, and George Modelski's model in particular, might offer valuable insights into probable futures that might be involved in the planning practice of international actors. By identifying recurring historical patterns, one could extrapolate future developments. However, the key assumption of the paper is that possible novel developments are bound to be influenced by a series of drivers, both trends and wild cards. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the predictive capacity of the long cycle theory by using future study methodologies. The present paper attempts to suggest some ways for doing that in a two-step progressive method. The first step is to identify the most important drivers that could trigger deviations from the extrapolation of historical patterns identified by the long cycles theory and to quantify the expected shifts in the distribution power by using four indexes: the Foreign Bilateral Influence Capacity (FBIC) Index, the Global Power Index (GPI), the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and the State of the Future Index (SOFI).
    [Show full text]
  • Methods for Enhancement of Timestamp Evidence in Digital Investigations
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives Svein Yngvar Willassen Methods for Enhancement of Timestamp Evidence in Digital Investigations Doctoral thesis for the degree philosophiae doctor Trondheim, January 2008 Norwegian University of Science and Technology Faculty of Information Technology, Mathematics and Electrical Engineering Department of Telematics NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology Doctoral thesis for the degree philosophiae doctor Faculty of Information Technology, Mathematics and Electrical Engineering Department of Telematics © Svein Yngvar Willassen ISBN 978-82-471-6227-9 (printed version) ISBN 978-82-471-6230-9 (electronic version) ISSN 1503-8181 Doctoral theses at NTNU, 2008:19 Printed by NTNU-trykk iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would first like to thank my advisor, Stig Frode Mjølsnes. His guidance and helpful feedback has helped shape and direct this work. I would also like to thank the others at Department of Telematics for many discussions providing valuable inspiration. Special thanks to Kristian Gjøsteen for mathematical insights and fruitful discussions about digital forensics and digital security. Thanks to Tore Amble at the Department of Computer and Information Science for introducing me to Shanahan ’s Event Calculus. Also thanks to Eugene Spafford at Purdue University and Pavel Gladyshev at University College Dublin. The discussions we had during our meetings in Norway as well as during my visits to West Lafayette and Dublin were most inspiring. Thanks to the many people in the Digital Forensics community in Norway. Special thanks to my previous colleagues in Økokrim, Inger Marie Sunde, Steffen Thorkildsen and Lars Wilberg and to my previous colleagues in Ibas AS.
    [Show full text]
  • Distributing Liability: the Legal and Political Battles of Y2K LSE Research Online URL for This Paper: Version: Accepted Version
    Distributing liability: the legal and political battles of Y2K LSE Research Online URL for this paper: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/103330/ Version: Accepted Version Article: Mulvin, Dylan (2020) Distributing liability: the legal and political battles of Y2K. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. ISSN 1058-6180 Reuse Items deposited in LSE Research Online are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved unless indicated otherwise. They may be downloaded and/or printed for private study, or other acts as permitted by national copyright laws. The publisher or other rights holders may allow further reproduction and re-use of the full text version. This is indicated by the licence information on the LSE Research Online record for the item. [email protected] https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/ Distributing Liability The legal and political battles of Y2K Dylan Mulvin* • Dylan Mulvin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science – London, UK WC2A 2AE. E-mail: [email protected]. Abstract In 1999 the United States Congress passed the Y2K Act, a major—but temporary— effort at reshaping American tort law. The Act strictly limited the scope and applicability of lawsuits related to liability for the Year 2000 Problem. This paper excavates the process that led to the Act, including its unlikely signature by President Clinton. The history presented here is based on a reconsideration of the Y2K crisis as a major episode in the history of computing. The Act, and the Y2K crisis more broadly, expose the complex interconnections of software, code, and law at the end of the 20th century, and, taken seriously, argue for the appreciation of the role of liability in the history of technology.
    [Show full text]
  • C:\Andrzej\PDF\ABC Nagrywania P³yt CD\1 Strona.Cdr
    IDZ DO PRZYK£ADOWY ROZDZIA£ SPIS TREFCI Wielka encyklopedia komputerów KATALOG KSI¥¯EK Autor: Alan Freedman KATALOG ONLINE T³umaczenie: Micha³ Dadan, Pawe³ Gonera, Pawe³ Koronkiewicz, Rados³aw Meryk, Piotr Pilch ZAMÓW DRUKOWANY KATALOG ISBN: 83-7361-136-3 Tytu³ orygina³u: ComputerDesktop Encyclopedia Format: B5, stron: 1118 TWÓJ KOSZYK DODAJ DO KOSZYKA Wspó³czesna informatyka to nie tylko komputery i oprogramowanie. To setki technologii, narzêdzi i urz¹dzeñ umo¿liwiaj¹cych wykorzystywanie komputerów CENNIK I INFORMACJE w ró¿nych dziedzinach ¿ycia, jak: poligrafia, projektowanie, tworzenie aplikacji, sieci komputerowe, gry, kinowe efekty specjalne i wiele innych. Rozwój technologii ZAMÓW INFORMACJE komputerowych, trwaj¹cy stosunkowo krótko, wniós³ do naszego ¿ycia wiele nowych O NOWOFCIACH mo¿liwoYci. „Wielka encyklopedia komputerów” to kompletne kompendium wiedzy na temat ZAMÓW CENNIK wspó³czesnej informatyki. Jest lektur¹ obowi¹zkow¹ dla ka¿dego, kto chce rozumieæ dynamiczny rozwój elektroniki i technologii informatycznych. Opisuje wszystkie zagadnienia zwi¹zane ze wspó³czesn¹ informatyk¹; przedstawia zarówno jej historiê, CZYTELNIA jak i trendy rozwoju. Zawiera informacje o firmach, których produkty zrewolucjonizowa³y FRAGMENTY KSI¥¯EK ONLINE wspó³czesny Ywiat, oraz opisy technologii, sprzêtu i oprogramowania. Ka¿dy, niezale¿nie od stopnia zaawansowania swojej wiedzy, znajdzie w niej wyczerpuj¹ce wyjaYnienia interesuj¹cych go terminów z ró¿nych bran¿ dzisiejszej informatyki. • Komunikacja pomiêdzy systemami informatycznymi i sieci komputerowe • Grafika komputerowa i technologie multimedialne • Internet, WWW, poczta elektroniczna, grupy dyskusyjne • Komputery osobiste — PC i Macintosh • Komputery typu mainframe i stacje robocze • Tworzenie oprogramowania i systemów komputerowych • Poligrafia i reklama • Komputerowe wspomaganie projektowania • Wirusy komputerowe Wydawnictwo Helion JeYli szukasz ]ród³a informacji o technologiach informatycznych, chcesz poznaæ ul.
    [Show full text]
  • Distributing Liability: the Legal and Political Battles of Y2K
    Theme Article: Computing and Capitalism Distributing Liability: The Legal and Political Battles of Y2K Dylan Mulvin London School of Economics and Political Science Abstract—In 1999 the United States Congress passed the Y2K Act, a major—but temporary—effort at reshaping American tort law. The Act strictly limited the scope and applicability of lawsuits related to liability for the Year 2000 Problem. This article excavates the process that led to the Act, including its unlikely signature by President Clinton. The history presented here is based on a reconsideration of the Y2K crisis as a major episode in the history of computing. The Act, and the Y2K crisis more broadly, expose the complex interconnections of software, code, and law at the end of the 20th century, and, taken seriously, argue for the appreciation of the role of liability in the history of technology. & It’s almost a betrayal. After being told for The United States’ “Y2K Act” of 1999 took years that technology is the path to a highly drastic steps to protect American companies evolved future, it’s come as something of a shock to discover that a computer system is from lawsuits related to the Year 2000 Problem not a shining city on a hill - perfect and ever (the “Y2K bug”).3 Among other changes, the new - but something more akin to an old Act gave all companies ninety days to solve any farmhouse built bit by bit over decades by Y2K malfunctions, capped punitive damages, and non-union carpenters.1 stipulated that legal and financial responsibility –– Ellen Ullman, “The Myth of Order” Wired, would have to be distributed proportionately April 1999 among any liable companies.
    [Show full text]
  • RFC 2626 the Internet and the Millennium Problem (Year 2000) June 1999
    Network Working Group P. Nesser II Request for Comments: 2626 Nesser & Nesser Consulting Category: Informational June 1999 The Internet and the Millennium Problem (Year 2000) Status of this Memo This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. Copyright Notice Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1999). All Rights Reserved. Abstract The Year 2000 Working Group (WG) has conducted an investigation into the millennium problem as it regards Internet related protocols. This investigation only targeted the protocols as documented in the Request For Comments Series (RFCs). This investigation discovered little reason for concern with regards to the functionality of the protocols. A few minor cases of older implementations still using two digit years (ala RFC 850) were discovered, but almost all Internet protocols were given a clean bill of health. Several cases of "period" problems were discovered, where a time field would "roll over" as the size of field was reached. In particular, there are several protocols, which have 32 bit, signed integer representations of the number of seconds since January 1, 1970 which will turn negative at Tue Jan 19 03:14:07 GMT 2038. Areas whose protocols will be effected by such problems have been notified so that new revisions will remove this limitation. 1. Introduction According to the trade press billions of dollars will be spend the upcoming years on the year 2000 problem, also called the millennium problem (though the third millennium will really start in 2001). This problem consists of the fact that many software packages and some protocols use a two-digit field for the year in a date field.
    [Show full text]
  • Computer Science Field Guide Teacher Version V2.8.1
    Computer Science Field Guide Teacher Version v2.8.1 Print Edition Sponsors Funding for this guide has been generously provided by these sponsors Produced by the CS Education Research Group, University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and by many others. The Computer Science Field Guide uses a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license. 2 of 590 Computer Science Field Guide - v2.8.1 1. Introduction 1. Introduction Teacher Note: Introduction for teachers This guide is an online interactive textbook to support teaching computer science in high schools. It was initially developed to support the new achievement standards in Computer Science that are being rolled out in New Zealand from 2011 to 2013, but eventually will be expanded to support other curricula. The version that you are reading now is the teachers' version, in which chapters are interspersed with information for teachers, like this box. It will include answers and hints, so this version shouldn't be released to students (although because the material is open-source, a resourceful student may well find the teachers' version). Because the guide is constantly under revision, we welcome feedback so that we can improve, clarify, and correct the material. The best way to provide feedback is through the "Give us feedback" link (this can range from a typo to a broad suggestion). You can also contact us about more general matters by emailing [email protected], or [email protected] . Watch the video online at https://www.youtube.com/embed/v5yeq5u2RMI?rel=0 1.1. What's the big
    [Show full text]
  • Use Style: Paper Title
    ASDF India Proceedings of the Intl. Conf. on Innovative trends in Electronics Communication and Applications 2014 211 Year 2038 Problem: Y2K38 S.N.Rawoof Ahamed, V.Saran Raj. Department of Information Technology, Dhanalakshmi College of Engineering, Tambaram,Manimangalam, Chennai Abstract Our world has been facing many problems but few seemed to be more dangerous. The most famous bug was Y2K. Then Y2K10 somehow, these two were resolved. Now we are going to face Y2K38 bug. This bug will affect most embedded systems and other systems also which use signed 32 bit format for representing the date and time. From 1,january,1970 the number of seconds represented as signed 32 bit format.Y2K38 problem occurs on 19,january,2038 at 03:14:07 UTC (Universal Coordinated Time).After this time all bits will be starts from first i.e. the date will change again to 1,january,1970. There are no proper solutions for this problem. Index Terms-signed 32 bit integer, time_t, Y2K, Y2K38. I. INTRODUCTION In the year2038,there may be a problem which causes all software and systems that both store system time as a signed 32-bit integer, and interpret this number as the number of seconds since 00:00:00 UTC on Thursday, 1 January 1970. The time is represented in this way 03:14:07 UTCedlib.asdf.res.in.On Tuesday, 19 January 2038 (2147483647 seconds after January 1st, 1970) the times beyond this moment will "wrap around" and be stored internally as a negative number, which these systems will interpret as a date in December 13, 1901 rather than January 19, 2038.
    [Show full text]
  • Computer Science Field Guide V2.8.1
    Computer Science Field Guide v2.8.1 Print Edition Sponsors Funding for this guide has been generously provided by these sponsors Produced by the CS Education Research Group, University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and by many others. The Computer Science Field Guide uses a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license. 2 of 521 Computer Science Field Guide - v2.8.1 1. Introduction 1. Introduction Watch the video online at https://www.youtube.com/embed/v5yeq5u2RMI?rel=0 1.1. What's the big picture? Why is it that people have a love-hate relationship with computers? Why are some people so fanatical about particular types of computers, while others have been so angry at digital devices that they have been physically violent with them? And what does this have to do with computer science? And what is computer science anyway? I'm glad you asked! Put simply, computer science is about tools and techniques for designing and building applications that are very fast, have great interfaces, are reliable, secure, helpful --- even fun. A lot of people confuse computer science with programming. It has been said that "computer science is no more about programming than astronomy is about telescopes" ( Mike Fellows). Programming is the tool that computer scientists use to bring great ideas to life, but just knowing how to give programmed instructions to a computer isn't enough to create software that delights and empowers people. For example, computers can perform billions of operations every second, and yet people often complain that they are too slow. Humans can perceive delays of about one tenth of a second, and if your program takes longer than that to respond it will be regarded as sluggish, jerky or frustrating.
    [Show full text]
  • Availability Digest
    the Availability Digest www.availabilitydigest.com @availabilitydig Future Dates Spell Problems for IT March 2017 Two major date rollover events are on the horizon for IT systems. They are known as Y2038 and Y2042. Either one of these events could cause applications that use dates beyond the rollover events to crash.1 And there are many such applications. For instance, life insurance policies and home mortgages can extend decades into the future, well past the rollover dates. The Y2038 problem is a direct result of the common use of 32-bit date/time fields. The Y2042 problem results from the representation of time in IBM z/OS mainframes. Though these dates are more than two decades in the future, beware! Time passes quickly, and the longer one waits to correct an application, the more difficult it may be. Shades of Y2K It wasn’t very long ago that we faced a similar problem. For decades, applications had used a two-digit date field. The year 1983 was simply stored as ’83.’ This was done because back then memory was very expensive, and any savings in memory were actively sought after. The two-digit data field worked fine until we approached the year 2000. Were we going to store the year 2003 as ‘03’? Wouldn’t that be treated as 1903? Massive amounts of effort went into reprogramming applications to move from a two-digit date field to a four-digit date field. I was personally heavily involved in this effort. My company, The Sombers Group, joined a consortium of four other companies to help organizations plow through their applications so that they could become Y2K compliant.
    [Show full text]
  • Availability Digest
    the Availability Digest www.availabilitydigest.com @availabilitydig @availabilitydig – Our April Twitter Feed of Outages April 2017 A challenge every issue for the Availability Digest is to determine which of the many availability topics out there win coveted status as Digest articles. We always regret not focusing our attention on the topics we bypass. With our new Twitter presence, we don’t have to feel guilty. This article highlights some of the @availabilitydig tweets that made headlines in recent days. How Utilities Are Using Blockchain to Modernize the Grid In the U.S. state of New York, neighbors are testing their ability to sell solar energy to one another using blockchain technology. In Austria, the country’s largest utility conglomerate, Wien Energie, is taking part in a blockchain trial focused on energy trading with two other utilities. Meanwhile in Germany, the power company Innogy is running a pilot to see if blockchain technology can authenticate and manage the billing process for autonomous electric-vehicle charging stations. Blockchain has grabbed the attention of the heavily regulated power industry as it braces for an energy revolution in which both utilities and consumers will produce and sell electricity. https://t.co/ItENELBelr Archive or backup – now that’s the question! It is easy to confuse archiving with backup – and no wonder. Both activities are broadly related to data protection, but they each serve two very different purposes. Which is why, before deciding which approach to take, your first step should be to figure out exactly what your organisation requires and why. In other words, what is the use case? https://t.co/hd6SuUASQ3 Google and Symantec go to war over our Internet security Google and Symantec are engaged in a war about each other's security practices, with all of us caught in the crossfire.
    [Show full text]