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Object Management Group Issues RFI to Begin Development of a Blockchain Interoperability Standard

Industry concern about DLT interoperability across DLT ecosystems cited

NEEDHAM, MA – OCTOBER 28, 2019 – International technology standards organization Object Management Group® (OMG®) announced it has issued a request for information (RFI) on blockchain ecosystem interoperability. OMG will investigate potential areas for standardization across distributed ledger technology (DLT) in response to industry concerns about potential interoperability issues across supply chains and other complex information flows that incorporate different blockchain or DLT ecosystems.

The RFI is aimed at helping OMG understand the full range of possible approaches to interoperability challenges in order to issue a request for proposal (RFP) for a possible standard or standards that will address different aspects of Blockchain interoperability.

"OMG participants in industry and retail sectors have expressed concerns about how to integrate data across complex supply chains, especially when many components of those supply chains may be using a range of different DLT-based solutions," said Mike Bennett, Co-chair of the Blockchain Platform Special Interest Group at OMG and Standards Coordinator for the IOTA Foundation. "We're looking forward to hearing from many more people in the Blockchain industry about innovative approaches of enabling interoperability at different levels across DLT ecosystems."

The OMG Blockchain Platform Special Interest Group (BC-PSIG) was chartered to investigate potential areas for standardization across the distributed ledger technology (DLT) area. To further these goals, the Blockchain PSIG is actively investigating potential standardization opportunities in the area of distributed ledger technology (DLT or blockchain) ecosystems, working alongside the OMG Middleware and Related Services Platform Task force (MARS PTF) and other task forces. The Blockchain Ecosystem Interoperability RFI is a response to industry concerns about potential interoperability issues between different DLT ecosystems, including but not limited to their use in supply chains. It also asks about more general interoperability challenges for which DLT based providers may have potential solutions.

This RFI will gather information on the nature and range of potential solutions to this interoperability problem or some aspect of it, and the range of potential issues or concerns seen by participants in different industries in relation to DLT interoperability, to explore whether some potential standard may provide a solution or part of a solution. Based on response to the RFI, OMG intends to issue one or more RFPs to identify potential solutions to DLT/blockchain interoperability problem(s) and develop new standards.

Responses to the Blockchain Ecosystem Interoperability RFI are due by February 1, 2020.

About OMG

The Object Management Group® (OMG®) is an international, open membership, not-for-profit technology standards consortium with representation from government, industry and academia. OMG Task Forces develop enterprise integration standards for a wide range of technologies and an even wider range of industries. OMG's modeling standards enable powerful visual design, execution and maintenance of software and other processes. Visit www.omg.org for more information.

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