Ethereum's Biggest Enterprise Group Is Releasing New Software Specs

The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance has released its latest round of specifications - the next steps to harmonizing the way large companies use private versions of the second-largest blockchain.

Announced Monday at Devcon4, the annual ethereum developer conference, EEA released its Client Specification Version 2, which lays out a certification process to ensure ethereum coders are following common standards.

The EEA released the Off-Chain Trusted Compute Specification Version 0.5, a way for data to be diverted from the blockchain to some off-ledger trusted environment, or piped in from external sources known as oracles via a standard application programming interface.

As well as within the ethereum community, EEA Client Specification V2 will also help drive.

As part of the release of Hyperledger's Fabric 1.3, its blockchain now supports Ethereum Virtual Machine bytecode smart contracts.

The other new spec, the EEA Off-Chain Trusted Compute Specification V 0.5, removes certain computation services for jobs that would take too long to run on-chain.

Much of this work was done by a Trusted Execution Task Force within the EEA. For example, Intel has been specifying how cryptographic operations should be performed in a secure enclave like the chip maker's software guard extensions.

"Trusted compute is a fundamental technology to take enterprise blockchain use to the next level, and the specification's Trusted Compute APIs make it easier," Tom Willis, director at Intel's Open Source Technology Center, said in a statement.

Devcon discussions will also explore how the EEA hopes to contribute and potentially add value to the public blockchain community through the ethereum improvement proposal process.

"Potential approaches include encouraging EEA members to contribute to specific EIPs, and describing mandatory client requirements in terms of specific EIPs where appropriate," Conor Svensson, CEO of startup blk.io and the EEA Technical Standards Working Group chair, told CoinDesk.