Blockchain is both a technology and a business model, centered around auditable trust in decentralized networks containing multiple business parties. Through auditable process execution and consensus-based data verification, blockchain creates opportunities across business domains and helps overcome the walls between enterprises.

At the same time, when Blockchain meets existing enterprise applications landscapes, it encounters established business applications and technical platforms. Thus, an architect must understand both the business opportunities brought by blockchains and the various ways to integrate blockchains into application landscapes.

In this lecture, we explore both views through real-life examples and products: reengineering business processes by taking advantage of blockchain qualities and extending a company’s technical capabilities by adding blockchain to the tools portfolio. The presented examples cover different aspects of the logistics/transportation domain and are augmented by selected prominent blockchain consortiums, which include ready-to-use interfaces for blockchain-based integration. 

As for the technical capabilities, we explain how blockchain/DLT technology can be used for self-sovereign and decentralized identities, as a replacement for conventional databases, for rule/process engines, and which competing solutions are being developed. We also investigate the question of interoperability for the different technology layers.

Learning objectives:

• Understand how blockchain can be the integration technology in business scenarios, and how emerging consortiums/alliances are affecting the market.
• Become familiar with the technical capabilities of blockchain technology in the context of application integration (Identity and Access Management, data storage, process execution etc.).
• Explore real-world projects as a starting point for further investigations in different business domains.

Why should you take this course?

• Gain insights into integrating blockchains into an application landscape, both from business and technical perspectives.
• Save time and effort through a compact, streamlined course that covers different scenarios and products.
• Understand the current state of development, learn about production-level business networks and meet upcoming/research technologies.
• Deepen your understanding through quizzes and gain a certificate on completion.

Lecturer

Michael Kuperberg works as the Chief Architect for Blockchain and DLT topics for DB Systel GmbH in Frankfurt am Main. In his role, he defines the technical strategy, evaluates products and approaches, creates solutions, and leads the implementation of products and prototypes. He has 19 years of experience in the software industry, focusing on application integration and identity/access management (IAM). Michael holds a PhD (Dr.-Ing.) in Software Engineering from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and is regularly an invited speaker at specialized conferences and meetups. He has taught blockchain lectures at different universities and has recently published several peer-reviewed scientific papers on blockchain topics.