Global Shipping Business Network (GSBN) has announced its blockchain platform, built in partnership with Oracle, Microsoft, AntChain and Alibaba Cloud, has officially gone live.

GSBN, an independent, not-for-profit technology consortium to build a blockchain-enabled operating system designed for global trade, was first founded by eight international shipping lines and terminal operators accounting for one in every three containers handled in the world.

The consortium has been working with the four technology companies to build the infrastructure needed to enable modern, efficient global trade.

As an independent consortium, it chose a best of breed approach to technology to help ensure the infrastructure is robust, reliable and scalable. And to ensure control of data by GSBN members, data is encrypted before being sent to the GSBN platform. Hence, GSBN cannot see the data without the members' authorisation.

"As an independent consortium, GSBN has the flexibility to choose a best of breed approach to technology to ensure its infrastructure is strong, reliable and highly scalable," says GSBN chief technology officer, Edmund To.

GSBN says it partnered with Oracle to build the underlying blockchain network for its operating system to utilise the Oracle Blockchain platform in Oracle Cloud, which is recognised as one of the leading distributed ledger platforms for building an enterprise-grade, permissioned blockchain. By using blockchain technology, GSBN enables collaboration between disparate and often competing market participants. GSBN uses Microsoft Azure Southeast Asia Region in Singapore for its scalability, functionality, and security for the platform layer. Azure's Availability Zones also ensure high service reliability and availability.

Ant Group's AntChain was selected for deployment in China. With its blockchain, secure computing, IoT and other technologies, GSBN says it felt AntChain provided an enterprise-grade, efficient and reliable platform. AntChain was listed by research firm IDC as the top-ranked provider in the Blockchain-as-a-Service market of China in 2020. This is further supported by Alibaba Cloud, recognised as a leader in Asia Pacific for Infrastructure as a Service by research firm Gartner in the past few years.

GSBN announced selecting IQAX as the technology partner to develop and operate the blockchain platform earlier in the year.

About GSBN
Incorporated in Hong Kong, the Global Shipping Business Network is the world's first independent, not-for-profit technology consortium to build a blockchain-enabled operating system to redefine global trade. The platform facilitates trusted collaboration between disparate and competing market participants and enables opportunities for greater efficiencies and resilience.