Chinese search engine and web services company Baidu has launched its Baidu Blockchain Engine (BBE), an operating system designed to facilitate decentralized application (DApp) development. The news was officially announced by Baidu’s cloud computing unit, Baidu Cloud, on Feb. 14.

Baidu Cloud states that it considers an open source, commercialized platform to be “the only way to build a blockchain operating system.” BBE has reportedly been built on the basis of Baidu’s “ABC” technology strategy — artificial intelligence (AI), big data and cloud computing — and aims to make DApp development “as simple as creating a mobile app.”

Hoping to drive the commercial development of blockchain technology, Baidu Cloud proposes that BBE, built on an intelligent cloud platform, will positively impact the wider blockchain product landscape. The platform is designed to address the perceived shortcomings of currently available infrastructure, which purportedly encounters issues with inefficient single-machine storage, high data storage costs and, subsequently, computing bottlenecks.

As Baidu Cloud outlines, BBE provides developers with services such as multi-chain and middle-tier frameworks, as well as smart contract and DApp templates. It also outlines various mechanisms that aim to provide data security and privacy protection.

BBE is compatible with the Baidu private cloud, allowing customers to implement DApps for various business scenarios by means of a flexible blockchain-as-a-service platform (BaaS).

The Baidu Blockchain Lab has reportedly designed BBE with six functions in mind, spanning the provision of a “trusted computing environment, high performance and high throughput, scalable storage, cross-chain trusted interactions, smart contract support, and contract security audits.”

As reported, Baidu released the Baidu Blockchain White Paper V1.0 last September, which outlines the design of its “Super Chain” network system. The Super Chain, which forms part of Baidu’s ongoing endeavour to commercialize its cloud blockchain BaaS platform, is a stereo network that supports parallel sidechains.