Microsoft has released the new Azure Blockchain Development Kit for the Ethereum blockchain, according to an announcement from Microsoft Azure blog Build Azure on May 6.

The new offering is reportedly an extension to Microsoft’s source-code editor Visual Studio Code, and has been designed to aid developers who are building apps using Microsoft’s newly-released blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) platform, Azure Blockchain Service.

The new extension can also reportedly be used for building apps on the public Ethereum network, and enables developers to use open source blockchain tools such as Solidity and Truffle.

While community-published Solidity and other blockchain tools for Visual Studio Code already exist, the blog post notes that this is the first official set of such development tools officially released by Microsoft, stating:

“This proves even further the investment and dedication that Microsoft is putting forth towards the use of Blockchain ledger technologies in the Enterprise, or even on the public blockchain networks.”

The extension, which is compatible with both Windows and MacOS operating systems, is notably hosted as an open source on Github.

As reported, United States-based coffee chain Starbucks announced this week that it would be using Microsoft’s Azure Blockchain Service to track coffee production as part of its blockchain-powered “bean-to-cup” pilot.

Azure Blockchain Service currently supports Quorum — the open source Ethereum-based platform backed by JPMorgan Chase — and purports to streamline the use of consortium blockchain networks, from creation to modification.

In May 2018, Microsoft Azure had released its blockchain app creation service Azure Blockchain Workbench, which is designed to streamline blockchain app development by providing readily available infrastructure.

In October 2018, Nasdaq announced it would be integrating Azure blockchain technology into its financial framework with the expectation that it would speed up transactions.