Introducing Overledger: The Blockchain Operating System for the Future

The idea of Overledger started back in 2015 and was the genesis of the Blockchain ISO Standard TC307.

History

The idea of Overledger actually came from Government and financial services in 2015. Working as the CISO of NSW Health — which is essentially the largest, state-level ministry of health in Australia — I experienced first-hand the challenges that arise from dispersed, siloed patient records without the ability to sync and connect patient data across multiple networks, systems and jurisdictions. In parallel, a good friend of mine working in financial services also wanted to solve a problem with cross-border payments in markets where the systems weren’t as mature.

In both cases, the solution to was clear — we needed to create a platform that sits on top of existing blockchains to solve the problems of interoperability between existing systems, networks and blockchains. From this vision, Gilbert Verdian also founded TC307, the ISO committee, where 40 countries and organisations are working to create the blockchain ISO Standard.

Collectively, we have been working for the past 2 years to release Overledger, the blockchain operating system for the future.

Vision

Overledger connects the world’s networks to blockchains.

We’ve taken the learnings and inspiration with the architecting of the internet and applied it to blockchain technology. We see the adoption of TCP/IP as the catalyst that accelerated the growth and possibilities of the internet we know today.

For the first time we can honour the original vision of the Internet to create an open trusted network for people, machines, and data to operate, but without the original flaw of having to know everyone within the network.

For the first time, we can trust the network without the need to know and trust each other.

The original vision of ARPANET was a closed network where every member (node) knew exactly who the other party was. With the immense expansion of the internet, more and more networks and people started connecting, naturally, everyone no longer knew everyone else. The internet became and remains untrusted.

Blockchain provides the mechanism to trust people without knowing who they are.

We are focussing on three goals:

· developing an API to connect the world’s networks to multiple blockchains;

· bridging existing networks (e.g financial services) to new blockchains; and

· developing a new Blockchain Operating System with a protocol and a platform to create next-generation, multi-chain applications

We were honored for New Scientist to cover our technology in November as the first credible solution to a problem that has been called the holy grail of blockchain: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23631534-600-how-do-you-link-the-worlds-blockchains-with-another-blockchain/

Overledger

The Overledger is and of itself, the tracks on which multi-chain applications will run, think of it as much the same as protocols running on TCP/IP where Overledger represents TCP/IP and the traditional centralized applications of today will have the opportunity to be decentralized. We will produce the means for developers to produce applications to interact across blockchains using our Software Development Kit (SDK).

However, in order for blockchains technology to truly offer endless possibilities, they need to be able to:

· Enable next-generation applications to be able to function across multiple blockchains

· Not be limited to any single a vendor or technology

· Allow seamless communication across multiple blockchains as well as recognition of transactions and assets across blockchains

Start-ups can be part of creating the future with distributed applications that span multiple blockchains. We can open the market to the number of users instead of limiting to single user base or blockchain. We allow start ups to monetize their applications in unique ways

Developers will have the opportunity to easily produce applications which solve their customers’ needs without having to rely on capabilities of only one blockchain enabling them to either produce applications as freeware or utilize a subscription model. They can create applications that can incorporate the full diversity of data that will be available on the blockchain.

For Enterprise, Overledger will:

· Complement existing blockchain investments and projects

· Gain access to new markets and customers that use different blockchains

· Spread risk and improve resilience by providing the ability to spread applications and data cross-chain and migrate your applications to different blockchains

· Connect with your suppliers and partners that use any blockchain

· Not have vendor or technology lock-in, providing the flexibility to use any blockchain and not be limited

Overledger will allow interaction between multiple blockchains meaning that it can cope with the complexity represented in the modern supply chain.

For Consumers, Quant will completely change how people will be able to interact with blockchains in a way that’s not possible today. A good example is the recognition of a person’s identity by one entity on a blockchain will be recognized and understood by every other blockchain and every entity connected to those. So consumers won’t need to constantly create accounts and remember all those passwords. We’re also allowing the way for consumers to be in control of their own data. We’ve seen constant failures by organizations not doing enough to protect consumers’ data securely. Imagine if you have a single consumer-controlled data store that is distributed across multiple blockchains. Every time you want to provide any sensitive data to another person or entity, you’ll be able to authorize and control access to your data and log it.

We’re a team of experienced founders who have been working in industry and government for over 20 years.

· Gilbert Verdian has been working in Cybersecurity for 20 years, and at CIO/CTO/CISO level in Governments and Industry. He’s also the founder of the Blockchain ISO Standard where 40 countries are working together to develop the Standard.

· Paolo Tasca is a Digital Economist, an expert on digital innovation with salient expertise on Blockchain technologies and Complex Systems. He’s also the Executive Director of the UCL Centre for Blockchain Technologies.

· Colin Paterson is technology innovator with a 20-year background in Cybersecurity, Information and AI.

We actually don’t know what people will build on Quant, we’re excited and can’t wait to see the possibilities.

Published on: https://www.quant.network/blog/introducing-overledger-the-blockchain-operating-system-for-the-future/