Microsoft is researching a technology that they believe will make the blockchain-based systems faster and more private, and it will promote safer use of enterprise software.
According to Reuters, blockchain technology first emerged as a bitcoin electronic money system, a common record of data maintained by a computer network on the internet. This means every user on the network has access to all the information.
Although consistent with ensuring the integrity of information, blockchain is not enough for large enterprises that require strict data security.
Microsoft says it has developed a system called Coco Framework that connects to different blockchain networks to address some of these speed and privacy issues. Coco is an abbreviation of the Confidential Consortium, which will be available for use and announced for open source by 2018.
Currently, the platform is compatible with ethereum, one of the most popular blockchain types and can run around 100 times faster.
Microsoft's technology will make it easier for companies to control what content is viewed on the network without making the system slower. Microsoft plans to offer Coco for free and hopes that it will lead to more users using its cloud services.
Coco is built with Intel hardware and will be compatible with all types of blockchain. The first will be Corda - blockchain of the R3 bank alliance, Intel 's Sawtooth block and Quorum, blockchain developed by JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Currently, businesses including many of the world's largest banks have been investing in blockchain in the hope that it can help simplify and reduce the cost of some of their large data processing processes.
Although still attracting the attention of large companies, experts and skeptics believe that the technology is still in its infancy and may take years before being widely used.