Microsoft Brings Blockchain to Azure Testing Environment

Microsoft is now making its Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) offering available to all users of its Azure testing environment.

Designed to allow developers to quickly create environments in Azure, DevTest Labs seeks to help companies control costs associated with development work. Other features include reusable templates, so developers don't have to design virtual machine environments from scratch, and artifacts, which tell apps what actions to take once deployed.

The add-on already supports 26 blockchains and allows developers to create and test blockchains with lower costs than a production platform.

Microsoft’s director of business development and strategy Marley Gray described it as an easy-to-use blockchain testing environment.

He told CoinDesk:

"With the Azure DevTest Labs integration, Microsoft has made it even easier for developers to get blockchain lab environments up-and-running."

Blockchain projects currently supported by Azure include MultiChain, Eris, decentralized file-storage platform Storj and prediction market Augur, among others.

Using Azure DevTest Labs, developers can create "labs" to experiment with private, permissioned, public or consortium blockchains, functionality that reflects Microsoft’s ambitions to add "every" blockchain to the platform.

The DevTest Labs offering was originally available in "preview" mode, meaning it was excluded from features such as warranty and customer support. Offerings in preview are also able to be discontinued without notice, according to an Azure support page.

Microsoft image via Shutterstock