12/08/2020
Recently, three Internet of Things (IoT) blockchain standards were approved at the plenary meeting of ITU-T SG20 (IoT and smart cities and communities). The standards, led by China Unicom and Zhongxing Telecommunication Equipment Corporation (ZTE), are:
- ITU-T Y. 59 Overview of blockchain for supporting Internet of Things and smart cities and communities in data processing and management aspects. It provides use cases and practical analysis of blockchain technologies in the field of IoT (including smart cities), such as for data processing in IoT, and blockchain as a decentralised data storage platform in IoT.
- ITU-T Y. 4561 Blockchain-based data management for supporting Internet of Things and smart cities and communities. It starts from the characteristics of blockchain, and elaborates in detail on the demand for blockchain-based data management. On this basis, the standard further defines the reference models, functional entities and their capabilities, and interaction processes of blockchain-based data management, and also offers two implementation cases. The standard will play a guiding role in providing practical reference of blockchain-based data management services for IoT application.
- ITU-T Y. 4560 Blockchain-based data exchange and sharing for supporting Internet of Things and smart cities and communities. It defines the demands, functional models and platforms of blockchain-based data exchange and sharing, as well as their deployment modes. This standard will play a guiding role in achieving blockchain-based data exchange and sharing in different scenarios, e.g. through the same platform, or taking place between different platforms and/or between blockchains.
The three new standards, together with Y.4464 Framework of blockchain of things as decentralised service platform which was published in January 2020, constitute the first batch of IoT blockchain standards; they mark significant progress in the research on blockchain application in IoT. Y.4464, the first IoT blockchain standard ever published, proposes and defines the concept of BoT (Blockchain of Things), adds the capabilities of blockchain to IoT reference models, and elaborates on the features, general capabilities, general processes and use cases of blockchain-based distributed IoT service platforms. The standard also outlines constructive ideas and ways to offer IoT applications through blockchain technologies by IoT devices such as IoT terminals, gateways and platforms.
The four standards are all led by China Unicom and ZTE, indicating how Chinese enterprises are actively participating and committing to IoT blockchain standardisation, as well as the competitive edge that they have already gained. It also signals that China is becoming increasingly more active in international standardisation of emerging technologies.
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