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WHITE PAPERBRIDGE TO BLOCKCHAINBridge toBlockchainA Platform for OrchestratingMulti Enterprise Business NetworksBlockchains are enabling multiple parties to engage in trusted supplychain transactions and data relationships that were difficult or nearimpossible with enterprise-centric, “walled garden” and EDI approachesof the past 15 years. In this paper, we explain why multi-party businessnetwork technology is an essential part of the solution for globalbusinesses.By Geoffrey AnnseleyBRIDGE TO BLOCKCHAIN ONE NETWORK ENTERPRISES WWW.ONENETWORK.COM
WHITE PAPERBRIDGE TO BLOCKCHAININTRODUCTIONBy now most forward-looking corporate business leaders, ITleaders and business consulting companies realize that the3rd generation of blockchain networks fundamentally works,and sooner or later is going to impact every market andcorporation in one or more important dimensions. Scalingissues are quickly disappearing and transaction costs on manynetworks are plummeting.The time for experiments to validate capability is comingto an end. More and more companies are making boldstatements around their vision for utilizing block chains,many large iconic cloud companies are in stealth modebuying Blockchain companies and pouring money into theirown Blockchain research. Some are motivated by fear ofdisruption while others see new business opportunities anda once in a lifetime chance to get an edge on the competitionor move into previously impenetrable markets. Yet othersare struggling with the basics of how Blockchain can helptheir business or just flat out ignoring the technology hopingthat it will not impact their business for years to come. Manyorganizations are still completely unaware of Blockchainbased organizations already targeting their business modelsdirectly armed with advanced well-funded Blockchainplatforms. Many decentralized Blockchain based organizationsaim to completely disrupt brittle, complex B2B and B2Cprocesses in both technical and economic dimensions.The problem is ERP, Planning, and B2B systems were notdesigned to operate in the Blockchain-based multi-partynetwork world.One of the core ideas behind the vast majority of Blockchainnetworks and projects is to bypass the “middleman”,including many “enterprise and cloud services”, combinedwith enabling parties at any location in a business networkto transact directly with each other and simplify businessprocesses. But the applications that populate today’scorporate IT landscape were designed around servicing onecentralized single corporation at a time. It is no surprisethen that the value of moving enterprise applications andsingle company business processes that involve one partyto a Blockchain network is small or negative. Processes thatinvolve two or more parties with N-way shared objectsand applications will benefit from underlying Blockchaintechnology. To realize value and create applications thatcan function in a multi-party network requires significantinvestment and innovative thinking.Corporations cannot easily abandon current IT investmentsand jump into or easily integrate to the blockchain world.Without some type of well thought out platform approachsupporting the two completely different worlds of traditionalcompany-centric enterprise applications and multi-partynetwork based blockchain applications, companies willstruggle to take advantage of Blockchain’s promise. Instead, abridge or “hybrid” approach will prove valuable and pragmaticfor many corporations as they embrace Blockchain whilecontinuing to extract value from current IT investments.BRIDGE TO BLOCKCHAIN ONE NETWORK ENTERPRISES WWW.ONENETWORK.COM
BRIDGE TO BLOCKCHAINFIGURE 1 ORCHESTRATION ACROSS LEGACY SYSTEMS AND MULTI PARTY BLOCKCHAIN NETWORKSA BRIDGE TO BLOCKCHAINOne Network Enterprises (ONE) has designed a multi-partybusiness network platform that operates across and multipleBlockchain networks.The platform is designed to support a combination of:1. Private network communities on private blockchainsrestricted to trusted verified parties2. Private network communities on public blockchainsrestricted to trusted verified parties3. Public network communities on public blockchains withor without permissions controls4. Integration and interoperability across private ERP and ITsystems across N-Organizations5. Network of Network capabilities embrace 3rd party CloudservicesCombining these capabilities with battle-hardened networkaware autonomous AI agents, machine learning agents, anda modular adaptive development platform is enabling ONE todeliver innovative solutions that solve long standing businessproblems where traditional enterprise solutions have failed. One Network Enterprises. All rights reserved.CHARACTERISTICS OF LEGACY SYSTEMS(THE TYPICAL CURRENT IT LANDSCAPE) Exponential explosion of point-to-point EDI connections Data replication having no single version of truth (SVOT)drives constant reconciliation and lack of trust Data latency inconsistent state of understanding Silo MDMs Master Data Model mismatches whichdrives up complexity Explosion of system-to-system cross references Huge learning curve and massive amounts of DApp code No business multi-party network-aware services becauselegacy apps were designed to be used by one companynot N No standard blockchain across organizations – defeatsthe purpose of using blockchains No blockchain proof-of-service standards After huge IT investments, supply chains and otherbusiness networks perform poorly3
BRIDGE TO BLOCKCHAINCHARACTERISTICS OF MULTI PARTYBLOCKCHAIN NETWORKS Significant reduction of EDI. In fact, for pure blockchain(no legacy systems) there is no EDI Shared objects, a shared ledger, and a single version ofthe truth Real time – no data latency Multi-party & Community Master Data - reduces errorsand synchronizes changes Reduced number of cross references for legacy systems Fast development of network & blockchain applications –DApps Rich set of business network-aware services and multiparty applications Cross blockchain orchestration and chaining – standardopen proof-of-service Unparalleled business agility, performance, security andreduced time to market for new solutionsTRADITIONAL CENTRALIZED ENTERPRISE VSDECENTRALIZED NETWORK SYSTEMS ANDPROCESSESThe traditional legacy approach to business networks andrelated business processes has been single company-centricwith bolt on B2B EDI and one way “web portal” technologies.Today each company has its own funky mix of private systems,custom point solutions, single company planning processes,single company system of record, no single source of truthbetween companies, centralized cloud service providersproviding one company applications on the cloud, point-topoint B2B EDI, one way WEB Portals, single company MDMsystems, all mixed in with manual Excel and ad hoc emailcollaboration.After the trillions of dollars invested in corporate IT servicesand B2B applications, companies struggle with trust thatrevolves around multi-party relationships and transactions.This might sound familiar: “We don’t trust our channel partners forecast” “No, we won’t share our data (POS, Forecasts, TestResults) due to security, replication, control issues” “Yes, we trust our suppliers but need to verify they aredoing what they say they are doing” “We don’t trust your production schedule so we areordering ahead and buffering more inventory” “On the last NPI ramp we found out about supply issuesway too late” “We have contaminated or damaged products and ittakes weeks to sort out root cause” “We can’t tell our customer exactly where the materialsare from nor can we guarantee we don’t use child orslave labor. Actually, we can’t even understand thisourselves!” “The construction team showed up but the equipmentwasn’t delivered – we wasted another day!” “We don’t trust our 3PL’s ETA estimates so we hedge alot”This results in cumbersome reconciliation processes: “3-way and 4-way purchase order-service-invoice matchprocesses” “Freight audit and pay” “Inventory reconciliation” “Just pay the charge if it is within 5% of expectedamounts”Accountability issues: “Who’s responsible for lost, stolen or damaged goods?” “Who’s responsible for the delay and resulting expeditecharges?” “Who’s responsible for storage or demurrage charges” “Confusion around shared inventory write-offs andassociated charges” “Who pays the non-compliance penalties”This landscape forces a proliferation of manual fill-in-the-gapprocesses between systems and companies. This “mess” hasspawned entire consulting industries and esoteric complexpoint software solutions. It is also one of the drivers behindmany “data lake analytics” and experimental blockchainprojects by companies struggling to become more efficientand agile.Companies that have taken the time to understand Blockchainrealize that the majority of this waste can be nullified byintelligent use of multi-party networks and Blockchaintechnology. But without solving the root problems caused byisolated processes and one company systems significant valuelikely will never be harvested from “cool” single companyBlockchain IT projects or by high end analytics solutions.ERP and planning systems (both Cloud and on premise)were designed for use by 1 company. Legacy collaborationsystems have been designed for collaboration between 2companies. These traditional models are and will continue toexist. However, companies want and need to move forward tosupport advanced multiparty processes.BRIDGE TO BLOCKCHAIN ONE NETWORK ENTERPRISES WWW.ONENETWORK.COM4
BRIDGE TO BLOCKCHAINFIGURE 2 ONE NETWORK PROVIDES NETWORK ORCHESTRATION - OPEN & PERMISSION ENABLED SYSTEMS OF ENGAGEMENTSIRENS OF THE BLOCKCHAIN ERA BLOCKCHAIN AS A SERVICEA PLATFORM FOR BRIDGING LEGACY ITSYSTEMS WITH BLOCKCHAIN NETWORKSWe are seeing the emergence of “Blockchain as a Service”(BaaS) from well-known cloud service and traditional ERPproviders that are eager to get into the game or avoid beingdisrupted. These new BaaS services are going to disappointmany. The problem with these BaaS services is that they lackthe key elements of multi-party business services requiredto make even basic network applications useful. Many ITorganization comfortable with these brand names will engagewith these services only to find out that they have to developmassive amounts of complex code to make anything remotelyvaluable. Many will abandon their blockchain projectsand claim that the technology isn’t ready for enterpriseapplications and play the waiting game. This is going to leadto the classic new technology “disillusionment” phase formany.Businesses need a bridge between legacy IT systems andBlockchain networks to enable business and IT to transitionto Blockchain when and where it makes sense. This strategyis practical, lowers risk and avoids lock in to one Blockchainnetwork while leveraging your existing IT investments. Whileblockchain networks like Ethereum are well-established,it is still early to bet on one Blockchain network and likelythat corporations will want and need to leverage multiplenetworks. Some IT organizations will choose a best-of-breedapproach using networks that specialize in various dimensionsof capability such as distributed storage, high frequencypayments, smart contracts, supercomputing access, identitymanagement, social networks, and news networks, whileothers will prefer to leverage a single blockchain network suchas that described by Telegram/TON, and other similar broadscope Blockchain networks.Providing single company centric cloud APIs andtemplates on top of Blockchain networks like Ethereumand Hyperledger will prevent the development andrealization of applications that businesses need tooptimize their operations, create new business modelsand optimize multi party business processes. One Network Enterprises. All rights reserved.To get value out of Blockchain there are layers of functionalitybeyond simple DApps or simple smart contracts required todeliver real world solutions. Very few companies are familiarwith what is required to build and support multi partyapplications with N-way network technology.5
BRIDGE TO BLOCKCHAINA platform designed to enable efficient business networksmust be built on the ideas of shared systems, sharedapplications, single version of the truth, common orcommunity master data, N-way multi-party workflows, anddecentralized (economic, logical and physical) computing.MULTI-PARTY NETWORK SERVICES AREREQUIRED IN THE BLOCKCHAIN WORLDOne Network has pioneered an approach that provides abridge between enterprise-centric IT systems and associatedbusiness processes and multi-party business networks thatleverage multiple types of Blockchain networks. One Networkwas built on the concept of multi-party networks, multi-partyprocesses, optimizing trading partner networks, eliminatingthe middle man, and enabling companies at any level in abusiness network to transact directly with each other. In partdue to being designed with “business network” principlesOne Network has been able to quickly and easily incorporateBlockchain technology and networks to provide practicaland valuable services that are out of the lab in workingproduction driving value for many companies. In addition,One Network provides a global multi-party network that actsas a transaction and synchronization platform functioningacross N corporate IT systems and N corporations at the sametime. ONE provides a gateway to both a private Blockchainthat runs on a global federated network as well as publicBlockchain networks including Ethereum and Hyperledger.Key capabilities provided by ONE and required to enableefficient development and delivery of multi-party Blockchainapplications include:1. Multi-Party Permissions Framework2. Multi-Party and Community Master Data Management3. Multi-Party Workflows4. Multi-Party Transaction Backbone5. Multi-Party Transactional Business Objects such as SalesOrders, Purchase Orders, and Transport Orders6. Proof-of-Service Frameworks to enable Smart Contracts7. Network-based decision and execution agent frameworks8. On chain and Off chain transaction processing and datastorage9. On chain and Off chain asset tracking10. Development tools and public APIsThese are the basic layers required to create useful businessapplications and services on Blockchain networks. To createinnovative applications and services requires several morelayers including:1. Business Network AI Frameworks2. Business Network Machine Learning Framework3. Business Network Planning and Automated DecisionExecution Frameworks4. Interfaces to allow humans to collaborate efficiently withAI decision making agentsOne Network provides all of the above capabilities asthe foundation behind their multi-party solutions andapplications. IT and 3rd party developers have access tothe same services and APIs to create and tailor applicationsunique to an industry or particular business network orindividual company.BUT WHAT ABOUT MY ERP AND OTHERINTERNAL SYSTEMS?One Network is designed to communicate to any number ofERP and other single company-centric systems. This requiresa multi-layer integration and sequencing capability thattraverses master data, transactions, events, plans, projects,sites, business functions and decisions. At the systemintegration level, ONE performs the following functions:1. Updating internal IT and ERP systems with networktransactions translated into single company traditionaltransactions2. Updating of shared network objects and connectedBlockchain networks with the semantics of internallygenerated transactions that are relevant to multi-partyprocesses.3. Synchronization of master data across N entities4. Network community master data management5. Permissions constrained access to past and predictedor recommended decisions, alerts, KPIs to all concernednetwork participantsBRIDGE TO BLOCKCHAIN ONE NETWORK ENTERPRISES WWW.ONENETWORK.COM6
BRIDGE TO BLOCKCHAINORCHESTRATION ACROSS BLOCKCHAINNETWORKSBetting on one Blockchain network is a fool’s game at thispoint in time. There will be many different Blockchainnetworks required to meet any one corporation’s or tradingpartner network’s needs. While Ethereum and Hyperledgerhave strong smart contract capabilities, other networksprovide valuable functionality that corporations will want toleverage, for example: Smart Contracts: Ethereum, Hyperledger, NEO Data Storage and Distributed Blockchain Storage: STORJ,FILEIO, TON Access to Off Chain High Performance ComputingServices: RLC, ADA High Transaction Volume Payments: NANO, XRP, Stellar IoT: IOTA Identity Services: TheKey, BlockAuth Credit Check Services: BLOOMOne Network’s platform links to multiple Blockchain networksto access specialized services. This strategy will provideflexibility, scalability and reduced risk as the winners in theBlockchain race change over time.SMART CONTRACTS - YOUR TRADINGPARTNERS NEED TO BE ON THE NETWORKA community of one on a Blockchain network is of no value.One of the problems individual companies face as they moveto Blockchain is that most of their trading partners are notusing Blockchain yet. One Network has built out a robustmulti-party business network consisting of over 90,000companies and 17,000 transportation carriers. This network isnow on-demand Blockchain-enabled through One Network’splatform. ONE has published open source code on GitHub toallow 3rd parties to build their own nodes and transactiondirectly on Blockchain with the ONE’s business network.Any company joining One Network has immediate access toconnect and transact with partners already on the network.ONE, for example, provides smart contract capabilities onthe One Network “Backchain”. This supports the writing ofany One Network multi-party transaction to the Blockchainby self-intersecting all permutations of the multi-partytransaction using the read-permissions-calculated slices,cryptographically hashing all these permutations, merkelizinga set of these and then anchoring the result into theBlockchain using a specialized Backchain smart contract. One Network Enterprises. All rights reserved.This algorithm is patent pending. As companies move fromsingle user Blockchain applications to more sophisticatednetwork applications they will require more sophisticatedplatform services to enable efficient application development.ONE provides advanced multi-party network-awareapplications and services to enable companies to rapidlyadopt Blockchain, reduce risk and transform their businesswhile preserving their IT investment.SMART CONTRACTS AND PROOF OFSERVICE“Smart contracts” may be the most transformative blockchainapplications. These automate payments and the transfer ofcurrency or other assets as negotiated conditions are met. Forexample, a smart contract might send a payment to a supplieras soon as a shipment is delivered. A firm could signal viablockchain that a particular good has been received—orthe product could have GPS functionality, which wouldautomatically log a location update that, in turn, triggers apayment. One Network has, for many years, provided thesesmart contract services to network member corporationsin the form of shared purchase orders, transport orders,contracts, and single version of the truth-based collaboration,tracking, proof of delivery, and payment automation. Itis a natural step to enable these services on Blockchainand provide easier open access to these services for morecompanies.ONE has developed protocols that are used to validatecontract terms (purchase order contracts for example). Thisis referred to as “Proof-of-service”. “Proof-of-service” cantake many forms but will typically be described by one ormore transactions posted by the service provider(s) againsta smart contract. The smart contract will validate eachtransaction and trigger proof-of-service validation markers.Proof-of-service may require many transactions in a particularsequence to be executed before the contract is fulfilled andpayment can be released. Easy no code modeling of metacontracts, contract conditions, terms, and formulas will be keycapabilities required to create fully functional contracts forcomplex business processes. Along with contract modeling,flexible proof-of-service protocols must be configurable pertrading partner network and industry to gain wide adoption.Proof-of-service protocols defined by One Network or theOne Network community will be open sourced to allow 3rdparties to transact with community members.7
BRIDGE TO BLOCKCHAINFIGURE 3 EXTEND EXISTING SERVICES OR BUILD YOUR OWNSERVICES AND PLATFORM CAPABILITIESREQUIRED TO DEPLOY OR DEVELOP MULTIPARTY APPLICATIONSONE has developed an innovative platform for developinggeneral platform services, industry tailored services andsophisticated multi party network applications. IT and other3rd party developers can develop at any layer in the platformstack using over 900 public APIs. Any language that runson the JVM platform can be used (Java, Renjin, Jython, andmore). Any transaction on ONE can be blockchain-enabled,providing companies with future options as well as a practicalpath to leveraging blockchain networks now.CONTROL TOWERS ON BLOCKCHAINBlockchains and networks provide a grand opportunityfor realizing the vision of control towers. The ability toorchestrate entire trading partner networks and optimizethe consumer and customer experience across all partiesis becoming vital for companies to remain competitiveand adopt new business models. Blockchains are enablingmultiple parties to engage in trusted transactions and datarelationships that were difficult or near impossible with the“walled garden” and EDI approach companies have beeninvesting in for the past 15 years.LOCAL PRIVATE MULTI PARTY NETWORKS &PUBLIC OPEN NETWORKSMany companies will need both private multi-partynetworks combined with the ability to participate in publicopen Blockchain networks. ONE provides multiple types ofBlockchain enabled multi-party networks. Private Blockchainnetworks restrict membership to certain companies to connectand transaction for certain business processes. ONE alsoprovides increased privacy on public blockchains by applyingits tested multi-party permissions and encryption model toinformation stored in each block.ONCE WE START TRANSACTING ONNETWORKS WHAT ABOUT PLANNING,PREDICTING AND MACHINE LEARNING?Once companies start transacting across networks, the valueof the historical information stored in the network becomestremendously valuable for five key processes.1. Auditability2. Traceability3. Master Data Model Tuning4. Planning and Prediction5. Machine LearningBRIDGE TO BLOCKCHAIN ONE NETWORK ENTERPRISES WWW.ONENETWORK.COM8
BRIDGE TO BLOCKCHAINFIGURE 4 CONTROL TOWERS ON BLOCKCHAIN NETWORK - A RADICAL SHIFT FOR SUPPLY CHAINSTo enable these functions requires algorithms and applications that are designed from the start to be network and multi-partyaware. The naïve approach to getting higher order value from this data will likely be for IT groups to pull network data into alegacy database (or data lake), try to normalize it and then run legacy planning and analytics engines in batch mode. That’ssimilar to what companies do today. But this path is fraught with pitfalls and very few will get any value from this approach,other than IT groups that get to work on a fun project for a couple of years. The litany of issues starts with data latencybetween execution and planning, planning systems connectivity and other network relationships. One Network Enterprises. All rights reserved.9
BRIDGE TO BLOCKCHAINInstead, a design that applies algorithms that run directlyon the networks and are designed to be network-aware willwin the day. AI-based intelligent agents that are aware ofcorporate boundaries, N-way permissions models, many-tomany links between blocks directly stored in the network andconnectivity between blocks in different networks will drivesuperior plans, projections, predictive alerting, predictiveanalytics and lead to better trained neural networks. Indeed,the massive amount of data that is already available onprivate and public networks is providing innovative companieswith the data needed to train the next generation of AI forbusiness. Those companies with access to the largest amountof data dimensions that are correlated in some meaningfulway are in the pole position to lead the AI race.IN CONCLUSIONBlockchain platforms vary widely in terms capability,disclosure, confidentiality, anonymity, cost to use, and speed.Companies will need to leverage more than one blockchainnetwork to realize the benefits of game-changing businessmodels. These Blockchains are enabling multiple partiesto engage in trusted supply chain transactions and datarelationships that were difficult or near impossible with theenterprise-centric and EDI-based approaches of the past 15years. One Network Enterprises provides a platform thatprovides a practical, no-compromise path to realizing valuefrom blockchain networks now, along with future flexibility asthe blockchain landscape matures. This multi-party businessnetwork technology is an essential part of the solution forglobal businesses, and we encourage you to contact us tolearn more.BRIDGE TO BLOCKCHAIN ONE NETWORK ENTERPRISES WWW.ONENETWORK.COM10
BRIDGE TO BLOCKCHAINABOUT ONE NETWORKOne Network is the intelligent business platform for autonomous supply chain management. Powered by NEO, One Network’smachine learning and intelligent agent technology, this multi-party digital platform delivers rapid results at a fraction ofthe cost of legacy solutions. The platform includes modular, adaptable industry solutions for multi-party business thathelp companies lower costs, improve service levels and run more efficiently, with less waste. This SaaS and aPaaS platformenables leading global organizations to achieve dramatic supply chain network benefits and efficiencies across theirecosystem of business partners. One Network offers developer tools that allow organizations to design, build and runmulti-party applications. Leading global organizations have joined One Network, helping to transform industries like Retail,Food Service, Consumer Goods, Automotive, Healthcare, Public Sector, Defense and Logistics. To date, more than 75,000companies have joined One Network’s Real Time Value Network (RTVN ). Headquartered in Dallas, One Network also hasoffices in Japan, Europe, and India. For more information, please visit www.onenetwork.com.US Corporate Headquarters4055 Valley View Ln, Suite 1000Dallas, TX 75244 1 866 302 1936 (toll free) 1 972 385 8630 inquiries@onenetwork.com www.onenetwork.com One Network Enterprises. All rights reserved.One Network EuropeOne Network India Pvt Ltd16 Great Queen StreetLondon, United KingdomWC2B 5AHWestend Centre III, Survey No. 169/1,Second Floor, South Wing, Sector 2Aundh, Pune 411007, Maharashtra, India 44 (0) 203 28 66 901 europe@onenetwork.com 91 20 49111800 indiasales@onenetwork.comOne Network Australia/Asia-Pacific 61 401 990 435 cedwards@onenetwork.comOne Network Japan utsu@onenetwork.com11
Multi Enterprise Business Networks By Geoffrey Annseley Blockchains are enabling multiple parties to engage in trusted supply chain transactions and data relationships that were difficult or near-impossible with enterprise-centric, "walled garden" and EDI approaches of the past 15 years. In this paper, we explain why multi-party business
