Roadmap for OriginTrail: A Global Trusted Knowledge Repository for Supply Chains
We believe sustainable supply chains are only possible if all organizations, big or small, are allowed to benefit from trusted data exchange. It is for this reason that we have been discovering ways to help deliver greater visibility, transparency, and trust in supply chains since 2011. The launch of the OriginTrail Decentralized Network (ODN) brought about a paradigm shift in handling data and delivering value for users based on integrity, interoperability, and interconnectivity.
To bring supply chains to the next level, we sought inspiration in technology components from builders of both centralized and decentralized solutions (Google vs. decentralized blockchain technologies). Thanks to the uniqueness of our development trajectory, we were able to reconcile legacy (traditional) IT systems with decentralized solutions, all with the aim of delivering value to OriginTrail users. A lean approach in planning and executing development targets has made ODN more battle-tested and versatile, and we have witnessed its use constantly proliferating in scope and scale.
With this in mind, we are continuously adapting the development roadmap of the OriginTrail protocol to best fit the requirements of the market. Harnessing feedback from implementations across multiple industries, we are ready to unveil a more detailed roadmap for the second half of 2020.
Towards the OriginTrail Trusted Knowledge Repository for Supply Chains — “Linked Data First”
After launching the first version of the protocol, the ODN gained traction within diverse supply chain sectors, aiming to address industry-specific challenges like traceability, counterfeit protection, consumer engagement, certification, and regulatory compliance to name a few. The ODN has thus become the technological backbone for a trusted knowledge repository for supply chains.
OriginTrail technology’s approach to the wide-ranging set of supply chain data today closely resembles the way Google follows the links between websites and manages to understand their content. Both technologies harness the power of their respective knowledge graphs. Similarities in linking data between Google and OriginTrail were covered in the previous blog post written by Branimir Rakić, co-founder and CTO of Trace Labs. However, important differences in the nature of the supply chain IT landscape and the World Wide Web require a more tailored approach in building the global supply chain knowledge graph specifically related to data governance, decentralization, and open data standards. Supply chain data is not readily available and accessible using a Google-like search engine, nor should it be.
OriginTrail addresses supply-chain-specific issues with a paradigm-shifting approach. The ODN network nodes support a Decentralized Knowledge Graph (DKG) — a novel data structure within the ODN data layer. Querying the OriginTrail DKG enables the finding of all available (connected) information on a particular supply chain object in a matter of seconds, spanning any number of datasets with any structure originating from different IT systems, while easily verifying data provenance and integrity. With the latest OriginTrail v4.1 release, the protocol also resolves concerns about connecting private and public data.
Advancing the technical capabilities for handling linked data also requires adjustments to the way we measure success. That is why we are introducing total graph size (TGS) as the fourth KPI that ties all the previously presented KPIs together. In simple terms, the total graph size is a measurement that combines the total number of graph vertices (also known as graph cardinality, or the order of the graph) and the total number of graph edges (known in graph theory as graph size) of a decentralized graph. The vertices represent all the different objects that have been added to the graph (such as identifiers and specific information for supply chain events, products, attestations, locations, and certificates) while the edges represent the connections between these objects.
As connections are considered “first-class citizens” of the OriginTrail Decentralized Knowledge graph, the goal of measuring both in a streamlined way is achieved by combining the total count of objects (graph order) and connections (graph size) in TGS. Additionally, this way of measuring omits irrelevant data duplication, as publishing datasets containing information on the same supply chain objects by the same data creator would not increase the graph cardinality and therefore, would not increase the TGS. It is important to note that the TGS measurements are approximate, as the local graph replicas on different nodes will have different graph cardinality and size due to decentralization. Nevertheless, the measurements show the volume of existing information shared across the network in both public and permissioned settings.
ROADMAP 2020
Q1 — The Freedom-Gemini Stage
- Data marketplace infrastructure development
- MVP implementations of the Data Marketplace in the Laboratory Data Market
- Network layer & API improvements
- The introduction of ODN KPIs in quarterly reports
- TGS state: 2,225,000
Q2 — Connecting Private and Public Data
- Connecting the private and public knowledge graph, enabling additional data privacy options
- nOS liquidity provisioning integration v1 — Uniswap
- The launch of the open knowledge repository campaign and taking part in the future data economy
- ODN node stake increase to 3,000 TRAC (further information to be published in due time)
- TGS forecast: 5,000,000
Q3 — Towards the Pioneer Stage
- Node cluster setup for high availability
- Open Knowledge Repository Discovery Application
- OriginTrail Explorer v2
- nOS liquidity provisioning integration v2 with multiple liquidity sources
- Community page launch
- Trace Alliance governance structure established
- Trusted oracle framework for permissioned systems based on the ODN (available via the Oracle Marketplace through nOS)
- Node service compensation settings optimization
- Hardware requirements and blockchain usage optimization
- TGS forecast: 8,000,000
Q4 — The Pioneer Stage
- Data Marketplace mainnet release
- Houston interface update
- Future development fund governance established
- White Paper 2.0
- ODN roadmap for 2021 published
- Improved user experience with easier node key management
- Litigation optimization
- Additional permissioned data feature enhancements
- Support for additional data models
- TGS forecast: 15,000,000
