RIF Labs has announced the integration of its public blockchain, RSK Smart Contracts, on Microsoft's Azure Marketplace. The RSK Smart Contract Network is an open-source platform that seeks to extend the functionality of Bitcoin using smart contracts and the Azure Marketplace is an app store for Microsoft’s cloud computing service.
Prior to the integration, RIF Labs customers had to deploy local servers while manually setting up and maintaining nodes for running the blockchain. With the addition of RSK Smart Contracts on the marketplace, users can have an RSK blockchain network set up in minutes via Azure.
Adrian Eidelman, RSK strategist and RIF Labs CTO, believes the integration with Microsoft's marketplace allows DApp developers to keep their focus on the product development now that node deployment has been settled.
“DApp developers can now focus on building their product, since they don’t have to worry anymore about spending hours in setting up and maintaining the node,” Eidelman explained in a company statement shared with Bitcoin Magazine. “Microsoft’s support will be key to accelerate adoption of RSK technologies and the Bitcoin ecosystem.”
RSK Smart Contracts is the latest public blockchain to be supported by the Azure Marketplace.
Sajan Parihar, director of Microsoft Azure, explained why the Azure marketplace is so pivotal for developers.
"Through Microsoft Azure Marketplace, customers around the world can easily find, buy, and deploy partner solutions they can trust, all certified and optimized to run on Azure,” Parihar said in the statement. “We're happy to welcome RSK Smart Contracts to the growing Azure Marketplace ecosystem."
RIF Labs’ integration with Microsoft will also prove crucial for the blockchain startup in the future, as it gets set to launch new protocol implementations for its RIF OS. The increased ease of setting up nodes will provide an opportunity to expand the RSK network for far less cost and storage space rental on the nodes themselves could provide the opportunity for developers to earn mining rewards.
In 2018, RSK Labs was acquired by RIF Labs, an acquisition that saw the smart contract platform expand beyond Bitcoin's blockchain.