Hyperledger is a global enterprise blockchain project that offers the necessary frameworks , standards, guidelines, and tools to build open source based blockchains and related applications for use in various industries.
The Hyperledger project includes a variety of enterprise-enabled blockchain platforms,
where network participants know each other and therefore have an intrinsic interest in participating in the consensus-building process.
Using the components available under the Hyperledger umbrella, a business can implement a variety of modular blockchain solutions and services to significantly improve the performance of their operations and the efficiency of their business processes.
Types of Hyperledger Technology Infrastructure
Basically, Hyperledger is not an organization, a cryptocurrency network, or a blockchain system.
It does not support cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, but works by providing the infrastructure and standards needed to develop various blockchain-based systems and applications for industrial use.
Hyperledger can be said to be like a hub, where various individual blockchain based projects and tools that adhere to a defined design philosophy operate under its umbrella.
These projects include the following:
- Hyperledgers Fabric is a platform for building blockchain-based products, solutions and applications for business use.3
- Hyperledger Cello enables blockchain to be deployed through an on-demand “as-a-service” deployment model (Blockchain-as-a-Service).4
- Hyperledger Explorer is a dashboard utility that allows monitoring, searching, and maintenance of blockchain developments and related data.
- Hyperledger Burrow is an Ethereum authorized smart contract blockchain node that handles transactions and executes smart contract code on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).6
- Hyperledgers Sawtooth is an enterprise-grade, permissioned, modular blockchain platform that uses the innovative Proof of Elapsed Time consensus algorithm.
- Hyperledgers Caliper is a blockchain benchmark tool used to evaluate the performance of a particular blockchain implementation
All of the above projects underpinned by Hyperledgers technology follow a design methodology that supports a modular and extensible approach, interoperability, and security features.
Projects remain agnostic to specific tokens or cryptocurrencies, although users can create them as needed.
Hyperledger Technology Layer
In terms of architecture, Hyperledger uses the following key business components:
- Consensus Layer : handles the creation of deals on orders and confirms the correctness of the set of transactions that constitute a block.
- Smart Contract Layer: responsible for processing transaction requests and only allows valid transactions.
- Communication Layer: handles peer-to-peer message transport.
- Identity Management Service Layer: functions required to maintain and validate user and system identities and build trust in the blockchain.
- Application Programming Interface (API): allows external applications and clients to interact with the blockchain.