ETSI launches new Industry Specification Group on blockchain: Permissioned Distributed Ledgers

ETSI is pleased to announce the creation of a new Industry Specification Group on Permissioned Distributed Ledgers (ISG PDL). The group will analyze and provide the foundations to operate permissioned distributed ledgers to be deployed across various industries and governmental institutions.

A blockchain is a growing list of records, called blocks, linked together with cryptography. By design, the data from a blockchain cannot be modified. It is an open distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties in an efficient and secure manner. Distributed ledgers are mostly known for their use with cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. However, they can also be used for digital identity attributes, object tracking, or the verification of service level agreements.

Distributed ledgers can be either permissionless (public) or permissioned (private). While permissionless ledgers are known by the general public through popular terms such as Bitcoin, permissioned distributed ledgers are better qualified to address the more business-oriented use cases that are of interest to Industry and governmental institutions.

The founding members of the Permissioned Distributed Ledgers group include Ericsson, Huawei, Intel, Telefónica and Vodafone. The updated list can be found clicking here.

The new ETSI group will work on the challenges related to the operation of permissioned distributed ledgers, business use cases, functional architecture and solutions for the operation of permissioned distributed ledgers, including interfaces/APIs/protocols and information/data models as well as other topics. The work focus will be discussed during the kick off meeting where officials of the group will be elected. The meeting will take place on 24 January 2019 at Telefónica, Madrid.

Source: ETSI media announcement