Distributed object storage company, Storj Labs, recently launched a beta version of the Storj platform revealing that they were partnering with Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) to join its Azure Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) ecosystem.
The company gives software developers the ability to pull and push data to their applications on a decentralized network. The data is stored by a community of “farmers”, who in exchange for compensation in crypto currencies such as Bitcoin, but called Storjcoin, rent their unused disk space to the network. The company is a product of the open-source Storj project, in which a significant number of community developers won and joined forces to build the most efficient, decentralized cloud using the block chain as a backend.
CEO of StorjLabs, Shawn Wilkinson, had this to say at the launch, “The long wait for our community is now over! We are delighted to release our beta platform to our community and see real world applications of the technology. The first apps have already been created on Storj, and we expect much more soon.”
Storj, which is joining the Azure Blockchain as-a-Service (BaaS) ecosystem to make its service readily available to enterprises, is, according to the company, going to use a 1-click deployment process. This means Azure users can now spin instantly access the Storj platform by just spinning up a server filled and pre-configured up with Storj libraries already.
Director of BizDev & Strategy for Cloud & Enterprise Blockchain at Microsoft Corp, Marley Gray, said of the news:
“Microsoft is excited to host Storj Labs on Azure BaaS, providing our growing community of partners a fantastic distributed object storage application.”
The news by Azure is following similar announcements by other blockchain and technology partners, leading to collaboration and innovation between the providers.
Vitalik Buterin, the Ethereum founder, said an important shift was underway in the industry. “Distributed file storage systems like Storj have the potential to eliminate high markup costs and market inefficiencies and provide a much higher level of privacy, reliability and quality of service than we see today.”
