AWS opens up its managed blockchain as a service to everybody

After announcing that they were launching a managed blockchain service late last year, Amazon Web Services is now opening that service up for general availability.

It was only about five months ago that AWS chief executive Andy Jassy announced that the company was reversing course on its previous dismissal of blockchain technologies and laid out a new service it would develop on top of open source frameworks like Hyperledger Fabric and Ethereum.

AWS launches a managed blockchain service

"Customers want to use blockchain frameworks like Hyperledger Fabric and Ethereum to create blockchain networks so they can conduct business quickly, with an immutable record of transactions, but without the need for a centralized authority. However, they find these frameworks difficult to install, configure, and manage," said Rahul Pathak, General Manager, Amazon Managed Blockchain at AWS, in a statement. "Amazon Managed Blockchain takes care of provisioning nodes, setting up the network, managing certificates and security, and scaling the network. Customers can now get a functioning blockchain network set up quickly and easily, so they can focus on application development instead of keeping a blockchain network up and running."

Already companies like AT&T Business, Nestli(C) and the Singaporean investment market, the Singapore Exchange, have signed on to use the company's services.

With the announcement, AWS joins other big enterprise players like Azure from Microsoft and IBM in the blockchain as a service game.

Microsoft wants to make blockchain networks enterprise-ready with its new Coco Framework