Supply chain & logistics
Fundamentally, distributed ledger technology solves a decades-old computer science problem; and that is: how do you get computers to agree on the state of something?”
The term distributed ledger technology (DLT), is key – and it’s the conflation of this with blockchain that has helped to muddy public perception. Put simply, the distinction is like the difference between a vacuum cleaner and a Hoover: blockchain is only one model of DLT among thousands of models. What, then, is DLT? Jargon and acronyms aside, it’s precisely what it says it is: a virtual ledger, or database, on which data is distributed across a series of separate nodes. We’ve had ledgers and databases for years, so what makes the distributed model so significant? In short, the distributed ledger not only democratises both storage of and access to data, it also promises that the data on a chain is immutable, guaranteeing (at least in theory) the authenticity of any given data set. “It’s all about having a trust-led public database where you can read and write information,” Screen explains. “So, if you’ve got two different companies and they’ve both got a record-keeping system, how do those two companies agree on the order in which things happen in that system, [and on the] state of the data in that system?” Or, for that matter, how can those two companies trust one another at a more personal level, to ensure that tampering doesn’t take place? As Screen notes, that element of distrust is where human emotion gets in the way of sharing information without the data security provided by a DLT.
NHS turns to tech
This is just one argument among many for the use of DLTs. Another significant application lies in ensuring safety in a healthcare context – which is precisely what Screen, and his company Everyware, has been developing over the past 12 months. An internet of things (IoT) solutions provider, Everyware has been working with the NHS for several years to aid in the storage and supply of drugs. For example, the company adds sensors to hospital fridges to consistently monitor the temperature of the contents – be that a flu vaccine, eyedrops or chemotherapy drugs – and to ensure that pharmaceuticals remain within the required range of 2–8°C. All the data these sensors collect is then stored on Everyware’s cloud-based platform, releasing nurses from the menial – not to mention error-prone – task of jotting down a fridge temperature twice a day. In 2020, however, the stakes were raised as the contents of hospital fridges across the country became a site of special interest: millions of bottles of the Covid-19 vaccine were being stored in the refrigerators that Everyware were monitoring. Enter Hedera Hashgraph, makers of a DLT platform that Everyware and South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust worked with to help store and track the data that these sensors
World Pharmaceutical Frontiers /
www.worldpharmaceuticals.net
were collecting. So, while Everyware’s technology was monitoring the vaccine around the clock, Hedera’s ledger could “prove that data is accurate, that we’ve never changed it, we’ve never tampered with it [and] we’ve never lost any,” as Screen explains. Screen, who had been sceptical about the practical application of blockchain in the past, was an instant convert when he discovered Hedera. “When I first came across Hedera it was a no-brainer,” he says. “[I thought] this is the answer, this is the way forward. In my mind there is no competition.” Hedera has patented a DLT model called a hashgraph, which, as Screen argues, is mathematically, ethically and environmentally superior to the blockchain model. While blockchain requires a leading node – which is both vulnerable to hacking and hugely energy inefficient – hashgraph works exponentially, meaning that every node plays its part in achieving a 100% efficiency rate. “It creates this continuous chain, almost as if you were knitting a scarf,” Screen explains. “And that’s why it’s called a hashgraph. It’s a graph of hashes.” For all the digital mystification, the semantics around these technologies are surprisingly literal. What’s more, as Screen says, Hedera has a “100-year vision to be the de-facto standard, which enterprises […] will build on top of.” He claims that they’re “technically the best, the cheapest and the fastest”, alongside having the lowest energy consumption, which is always important environmentally. On top of these advantages, Screen describes
Hedera’s governance model as “world class”. He says it has “created a governing council of the biggest companies around the world, [which] will be the custodians of this network, each of them for a short period of time. And they themselves are distributed geographically and across different industries, [which] rules out any potential conflicts of interest.”
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www.shutterstock.com
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