Fast-transaction blockchain distributed ledger provider Waves Enterprise, an extension of Waves Platform AG technology, Thursday announced major upgrades to its network that adds significant improvements, putting it into the same class as the corporate blockchain Hyberledger Fabric.

Waves Enterprise, now in full Version 1.0, offers what the company says a powerful universal blockchain solution aimed at corporations and the public sector. Key features added in this update include containerized smart contracts, greatly improved performance, an updated application programming interface for developers and an improved user interface for users.

“There is now a transition to a new generation of IT systems and a new system of interaction between companies and even people,” said Alexander Ivanov, founder of Waves. “We are talking about the interaction between companies, which can be transferred to new tracks. This became possible with the advent of blockchain. This technology is designed to shape ecosystems in which participants trust each other.”

This is a major release for Waves Enterprise and deploys features that implement important new functions for enterprise clients. To start, Waves Enterprise has implemented an authorization service that will adhere to enterprise-level security using the oAuth 2.0 specification. Previously the Waves API was open, thus accessible publicly and available for anyone.

Now users will need to supply login credentials before using the API, this is a measure taken to increase security. Multiple accounts are now supported under one login, node administrators can now control keys from the client app and a single account can now be used across all services.

The platform now supports containerized smart contracts. Smart contracts are a fundamental part of distributed app programming on blockchains, they allow for executable contracts that only trigger when certain criteria are met and can perform logic-based transactions at scale.

With containerized smart contracts, Waves Enterprise users can now execute hundreds of contracts per minute. The update also changes the mechanics of processing requests by nodes in the Waves-NG protocol, the underlying protocol of the Waves network designed to address scalability on blockchains. At present, the company is attempting to place more than 600,000 records per hour into a contract.

This release will also enable clients to seamlessly update contracts on the blockchain, without causing unnecessary problems while maintaining the security of currently executing contracts. Contract versions on the chain will automatically update, so fraud is not possible.

This update also increases network speed. The network now creates a block of 2 megabytes every 12 seconds, with up to 10,000 transactions per block and microblocks every 500 milliseconds. The bandwidth of the network is 8 megabits per second, or 1 megabyte per second.

In case the transaction load on the network exceeds its maximum capability, the blockchain is designed to retain consistency. To do that, Waves Enterprise removed restrictions on blocks inherited from the parent network (Waves Platform). Tests have been conducted at maximum workload and confirmed that operations remain stable for a period of several weeks.

“By 2021, 90% of current enterprise blockchain platform implementations will require replacement within 18 months to remain competitive, secure and avoid obsolescence, according to Gartner. Our solution will be relevant for many years to come,” said Artem Kalikhov, chief procurement officer of Waves Enterprise. “The release features containerized smart contracts improved performance, new tools, and an upgraded API. Besides, we have focused on security for the existing protocol. In speed, our solution now surpasses all available corporate solutions in the market.”

The company believes the upgrades to Version 1.0 will place Waves Enterprise competitively with other enterprise-level blockchain solutions on the market.

Image: Waves