The IT market moves in cycles. It reinvents or rediscovers technology on a regular basis. It might apply old technology to new problems or apply new technology to old problems. This can lead to looking at new or updated solutions and thinking that it must replace an existing technology. We find this happens a lot where people assume a new solution is a replacement or an alternative to IBM MQ which is widely used in many different use cases and has been around for years even though there is no real overlap or similarity. There is always someone new who wants a shot at the title…
Blockchain is currently exploring the different opportunities that exist for it today in the marketplace. We have probably moved on from where we were a few years ago when it was being touted as the solution to everything, to where we are now where it is being used in a number of different real customer use cases and we are seeing where it fits and adds value. These examples tend to vary according to the industry where it is being deployed, and also it depends on which Blockchain technology is being used with solutions based on Hyperledger Fabric (IBM), Ethereum (ConsenSys), and Corda (R3) all seemingly getting traction in different areas at this early stage in the market.
Now might be a good time to talk about both IBM’s Hyperledger Fabric based Blockchain and a messaging product like IBM MQ, contrasting them and showing how and why they should work together. MQ is designed to do just one thing – to move data in the form of messages between applications, systems and services, and to do so reliably and securely. The use case for this is to enable applications to exchange data that normally then triggers some action or activity. This might happen infrequently but typically in many customer environments there are millions or billions of these messages every day. These messages aren’t just representing the data flowing around the business and between the applications, they actually are the data flowing between these MQ enabled applications. Anything that actually happens in the business as a result of the data in these messages will take place due to the actions of these applications in the processing of this data, or in applications that are triggered into action on the basis of these messages being sent or received. If money is being transferred between accounts, then the applications are making the debit or credit, but on the basis of the information passed in the message. And a response might be generated to confirm the action back to the originator, but these actions are all discrete.
How is this similar or different to blockchain? First while blockchain might mean different things to different people, it is primarily seen as a type of distributed ledger where multiple parties are agreeing on a set of actions that might relate to the exchange of physical or digital assets but could also cover many other different exchanges. To enable these exchanges there might be actions required in the physical world, but there will certainly be a need to have corresponding digital exchanges of information to allow the internal systems of each participant to be updated to reflect the current or changing state of the items on the blockchain. These additional digital updates would most likely involve the exchange of multiple MQ messages between application to ensure the reliable update of systems based on the change of information. Each individual update on the blockchain would likely trigger thousands of related MQ messages as the back end systems are updated in sync with the blockchain, or the blockchain gets updated as a result of these MQ triggered updates.
It is because of this dependent relationship between MQ and Blockchain implementations that IBM has included a Bridge to Blockchain as a part of the MQ Advanced entitlement. As businesses start to explore how to leverage Blockchains like IBM’s Hyperledger, either as a global payments solution, or a food trust solution or anything else, knowing it will be simple to ensure that MQ enabled applications can be connected to the blockchain and to ensure that any updates on either side are accurately reflected will help to accelerate solutions, either as a proof point, or in production.
In this instance, although there is queueing, it is message queueing so there is no need to stand in line and wait before starting your blockchain journey. Move up to MQ Advanced and get on with making Blockchain real.
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