As a part of the initiative, Acronis offers a prototype solution for better understanding of blockchain potential.
Acronis, a provider of easy, complete and affordable data protection of all files, applications and operating systems across any environment, has unveiled its intention to develop applications of blockchain technology for data protection. A separate research and development team at Acronis will focuse on delivering ‘tamper-proof’ data storage with verifiable sync and share solutions on the basis of the blockchain technology.
Acronis appreciates the potential of the blockchain as a global record of digital events distributed across different participants or entities. The technology can provide new data protection use cases for companies all over the world to guarantee data authenticity, privacy and control.
John Zanni, Acronis’ chief marketing officer, says: “You can use Blockchain technology to essentially timestamp them, and then that way you can guarantee that they haven’t been touched. That way if someone does touch it, it will be stamped again and you will have a log of these modifications. The interesting part is instead of having a centralised entity, that is the source of the verification/certification, it is distributed. It becomes very tamper-resistant, because you would have to go to a set of 50 Blockchain authorities and somehow get all of them to not notice that you’ve made a change – which is why it’s getting a lot of hype in the market.”
The blockchain initiative of Acronis includes a prototype solution aimed at introduction of the technology to service provider partners and end user customers. The prototype illustrates blockchain as a new way to verify and protect data with timestamps and certificates of authenticity. Acronis makes the prototype available to the public to get input on potential data protection use cases for the blockchain. Acronis will ask for contact information of all interested people to get an insight into the market and evaluate the potential of the blockchain for data protection. The prototype is available here.
“When harnessed to its full potential, Blockchain will bring levels of data authenticity, privacy and control to data protection that we have not seen before,” said Serguei Beloussov, Co-Founder and CEO at Acronis. “By exposing real applications, people will start to understand the power and potential uses of Blockchain, and we are excited and confident that Acronis solutions with help unlock its huge potential for data protection.”
The initiative launched by Acronis has already been duly appreciated by bitcoin and blockchain companies. Vitalik Buterin, a prominent figure in the sphere of cryptocurrencies, co-founder of Ethereum and Bitcoin Magazine, commented: “The potential for Blockchain reaches far beyond Bitcoin transactions with its built-in ability to deliver data protection and authenticity at costs that are dramatically lower than traditional systems. By applying Blockchain technology to its solutions, Acronis is the first data protection vendor that we’ve seen embrace this innovative technology to bring new levels of data protection to digital records and transactions.”