Microsoft Explores Adding Ripple Tech to Blockchain Toolkit

Microsoft has issued an update on the progress of its blockchain toolkit offering, revealing it is exploring how to add Ripple's Interledger protocol as it seeks to enhance the service.

First announced in October as an update to its Azure cloud computing platform, Microsoft’s BaaS offering currently allows developers to deploy private and semi-public blockchain networks on Ethereum and otherwise experiment with the decentralized application platform.

In a new blog post, Marley Gray, Microsoft’s director for technology strategy in US financial services, expanded on the program and its progress, describing the response to the offering as "overwhelming" and "positive".

Gray further indicated that Microsoft has partnered with Ripple and that its Azure BaaS is operating a node on the Ripple consensus network. Notably, Gray also suggested that support could soon be added for the startup’s Interledger protocol, which seeks to enable transactions between distributed and traditional bank ledgers.

Gray wrote:

"We're exploring how the Interledger Protocol can be used by the Azure enterprise and developer community to enable new and novel use cases within Microsoft's Blockchain as a Service offering."

A spokesperson for Ripple called the partnership key to the success of the protocol, first announced in October, noting Microsoft would add "credibility and reliability" to the offering.

Gray concluded by noting that several packages were "in the pipeline" to add to its Ethereum toolkit offerings, and that it is considering other blockchain technologies as it seeks to expand the initiative.

Microsoft image via Wikipedia