Today it was announced that DAML, the smart contract language created by Digital Asset, has been integrated with Hyperledger Besu, the Ethereum compatible blockchain framework. DAML is a workflow-oriented language that now runs on most flavors of enterprise blockchain as well as two centralized databases.
Initially developed by ConsenSys’ PegaSys, Besu is a competitor to JP Morgan’s Quorum, the popular Enterprise Ethereum blockchain client. Blockchain Technology Partners implemented the DAML integration with Besu as part of its Sextant solution.
DAML makes it possible for developers to focus on the application layer first rather than the details of the technology stack. That’s because the smart contract language is compatible with so many different blockchains and databases. Digital Asset also has its DABL offering, which enables developers to deploy DAML for testing ideas quickly.
Digital Asset’s CMO Dan O’Prey, who previously Chaired the Marketing Committee at Hyperledger, said: “One of the main questions we’d (Hyperledger) get is how do people get started writing a Hyperledger app. Of course, there is no Hyperledger app. There are multiple different frameworks and approaches which is natural for this stage of the industry.”
He continued: “Now with DAML you can write a single DAML app and deploy it to Fabric, to Sawtooth to Besu and numerous other ledgers. So it’s starting to move towards that standard, unified componentization of the blockchain stack that we’ve been seeing over the last year or so.”
DAML works on eight platforms. BTP’s Sextant supports Hyperledger Sawtooth and Besu, as well as Amazons QLDB (centralized blockchain-like database) and Aurora. The latter is compatible with popular databases MySQL and PostgreSQL.
Other platforms supported are Hyperledger Fabric, VMware’s Blockchain, DABL, and Corda, which is still at the proof of concept stage.
“Hyperledger Besu is the most recent framework to be contributed to Hyperledger and the first that is compatible with the public Ethereum network,” said Executive Director of Hyperledger, Brian Behlendorf. “As we anticipate both specialization and consolidation across the blockchain tech stack, having a unified option in DAML to write applications across Sawtooth, Fabric and now Besu is great to see.”
The only missing enterprise blockchain is Quorum. O’Prey said an integration with Quorum would be entirely possible. “I think Besu has some advantages in that it is purely Java, it is Apache 2 licensed rather than GPL V3 (which is copyleft) and it also has the governance structure of the Linux Foundation around it.”
