Open Networking Summit Europe 2018

Blockchain is often touted as a transformational technology set to redefine how many businesses work today, but will it have any effect on the networking world?  This talk covers the role that blockchain will play within the networking industries from two perspectives – industry and research.  Firstly, it outlines the work I am leading at UCL called “DataNet” – a project that aims to create a global data infrastructure that does for data what the Internet did for communication.  Through developing a unified set of protocols that cover Identity, privacy, security, trust, sharing and permissioned access to data sets,  we are creating the “data rails” for the digital economy – unlocking the value of digtalisation for individuals, companies and governments.  Secondly, it discusses some nearer term projects that are being done in collaboration with network operators - illustrating the near-term impacts of blockchain that is challenging the established norms of how networks are built and operated.