- Pacific
Software begins development of blockchain-based B2B/B2C e-commerce
platform
- Product
tracking from farm to fare
- System
will gather data from devices linked to Internet of Things
With the development of its blockchain ecommerce trade
platform, Pacific Software, Inc. (OTC: PFSF) offers the prospect of supply
chains with a level of transparency and integrity that is sorely lacking in
current systems. By its immutability, which makes it impossible to game, and
its capacity to track products, the technology will identify origins; speed up
the removal of contaminated food in agricultural channels; and flag fraud.
Undertaken using IBM’s Hyperledger Blockchain ‘Backend as a Service’ (BaaS)
infrastructure, the PFSF platform will have the capability to record, store and
track digital product information, such as farm origination details, batch numbers,
factory and processing data, expiration dates, storage temperatures and
shipping details. In addition, PFSF is working to incorporate data from
devices, such as barcode and RFID readers, connected to the internet. By
linking to the ‘Internet of Things’, the PFSF platform will make complex supply
chains safer and a great deal more manageable.
Managed by the Linux Foundation, the Hyperledger Project is
an undertaking meant to facilitate collaboration among developers aiming to
apply the blockchain concept to transactional markets other than
cryptocurrencies. The initiative was launched in 2015 with 30 participants. By
the middle of this year, 235 organizations had joined. They represent a range
of industries, including aeronautics, credit card services, finance, health
care, manufacturing and logistics.
The Hyperledger technology offers a number of advantages.
Its consensus algorithm is Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT), not the
Proof-of-Work (PoW) widely employed by cryptocurrencies. This eliminates the
need for the large amounts of power needed to solve cryptographic hash
functions and also reduces the time it takes for transactions to be validated,
to seconds. In contrast, a transaction with bitcoin, which uses PoW, will only
be confirmed after 10 minutes. Hyperledger also allows permissioned systems to
be built, which increases the privacy and security of the network. In a
permissioned blockchain, an issuing authority grants identities to transactors
on the network and assigns the appropriate level of access. The permissioned
network can provide privacy by granting different levels of access and provide
accountability with a record of all the transactions for an identity. This
differs from the bitcoin network, which is publicly accessible.
Initially, PFSF’s ecommerce platform will focus on the
agricultural supply chain between Brazil and China. PFSF’s Agri-Blockchain
platform will improve transparency and trust with regard to origin, product
quality, product safety and other factors. Additionally, in the event of food
contamination, the technology will allow the exact source of the failure to be
traced, reducing costs tremendously.
The drug supply chain is another system set to benefit from
the PFSF platform, particularly as it relates to preventing or reducing the
diversion of opioids fueling the present epidemic. The scourge of opioid
addiction continues to plague the nation. A 2017 study by the non-profit
Altarum (http://ibn.fm/ezdFq)
estimates that, since the turn of the century, “the opioid epidemic has cost
the U.S. more than a trillion dollars… and may exceed another $500 billion over
the next three years.” The main components of economic activity are affected,
placing a drag on economic growth. Reduced productivity is lowering business
investment; earnings lost from illness and absenteeism are decreasing
consumption expenditure; and shrinking tax revenues are curtailing government
expenditure. The toll on human lives is equally costly. In the U.S., overdose
deaths now run at a rate of roughly five persons per hour.
However, PFSF’s Hyperledger system may turn the tide, since
it is a sophisticated method of recordkeeping. There is hope that better
bookkeeping, which is possible with blockchain systems, may augment efforts to
rein in drug abuse by identifying drug diversion and the bad actors (medical
professionals and patients) responsible for it. The present system is flawed in
several ways. It allows “double doctoring,” for instance, which occurs when a
patient takes out more than one prescription from many physicians. This problem
is compounded since tracking prescriptions is typically done on a
state-by-state basis, and the silo nature of these systems can be easily
exploited by patients who travel across state lines to repeat prescriptions.
Hyperledger Blockchain from Pacific Software may stop this
corruption and chicanery. By tracking drugs from production to final use, the
system will identify “pill mills” that over-prescribe painkillers or patients
who “doctor shop” for extra prescriptions. The platform will be able to detect
exactly where the opioids are sidetracked for abuse or illegal use. Moreover,
it can overcome the lack of communicability between silo systems. Generally,
blockchain has the capability to interconnect systems that don’t readily speak
to each other, so several entities – state regulators, manufacturers,
pharmacies – could potentially be on the same system. And, of course, unlike
traditional databases, blockchains are immutable, i.e., records cannot be
changed unless consensus is agreed by a majority of members. Also, a blockchain
built to track pharmaceuticals would, very likely, be “permissioned” and
accessible only by manufacturers, health care professionals and regulators.
Pacific met recently with representatives from the African
Chamber of Commerce and is in the process now of developing a partnership with
them for building trade with struggling African countries. This will include
helping in areas where, for example, people are selling into counterfeit drugs
and medications. Blockchain is already at work in the health care industry.
Humanity.co has launched its My31 Mobile App, incorporating the IBM Blockchain
design, which is designed to help users manage their health data (http://ibn.fm/8dlsI).
In August, Pacific Software announced that it had signed a
definitive agreement to begin construction of its proprietary e-commerce trade
platform (http://ibn.fm/KzZLA). The
accord gives Cobalt 47 Technologies Ltd., a spin-off of KBQuest Group, the
greenlight to begin construction of the multi-lingual e-commerce B2B and B2C
trade platform. The platform is expected to be in production by
November 2018 and will integrate blockchain technology solutions.
KBQuest Group, Inc. is the leading Microsoft distributor in
China and was named “Microsoft SQL Partner of the Year 2017.” Its founder
and chairman, Dr. Wang-Chan Wong, advises Pacific Software on technical issues.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.PacificSoftwareInc.com
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