The buzz around blockchain – from its initial release a decade ago until today – stems from the fact that it was the first technology to establish trust online via mathematics and collective protocolling alone. At Ericsson, we see significant value in blockchain technology as a trust enabler and potential disruptor that can enable completely new business models in the digital asset market. The latest Ericsson Technology Review article explains blockchain technology from an Ericsson perspective and shares the key insights we have gained from a number of promising private blockchain use cases we have evaluated both on our own and together with global telco and enterprise customers. The article also discusses potential future developments and business considerations.

1. Owner1 Owner2
User3D1
User2D1
User3D1
Blockchain
Domain D1 Domain D2
Owner 1
User1D1 User2D1
User3D1
Owner2
ERICSSON
TECHNOLOGY
BLOCKCHAINS
ANDONLINETRUST
C H A R T I N G T H E F U T U R E O F I N N O V A T I O N | # 0 3 ∙ 2 0 1 9

2. ✱ BLOCKCHAINS AND ONLINE TRUST
2 ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW ✱ APRIL 4, 2019
A decade after its launch, blockchain is still the only internet-age technology
that is able to facilitate online trust using mathematics and collective
protocolling exclusively.
DANIEL BERGSTRÖM,
BEN SMEETS,
MIKAEL JAATINEN,
JAMES KEMPF,
JONAS LUNDBERG,
NICKLAS SANDGREN,
GASPAR WOSA
blockchains
FACILITATING ONLINE TRUST WITH
One of the fundamental challenges in the
online, digital world is that implicit,
fundamental concepts in the off-line,
physical world need to be formalized and
made explicit. Trust is a prime example.
■ Inthephysicalworld,trustisintangiblebutitis
nonethelesscentraltoourinteractionswithother
peopleandtoourconsumptionofservices.Creating
anonlineenvironmentinwhichpeoplefeelsecure
wheninteractingandconsuminginasimilarway
requiresthedevelopmentoftechnologiesand
protocolsthatformalizeanddigitalizetrust.
Thecurrentsolutiontothechallengeoffacilitating
trustonlineistorelyontrustedthirdpartiessuchas
banksandmajorinternetcompaniestoactastrust
anchors,creatingandattestingcertificatesfor
peopleorweb-basedservices.Eachdevice,browser
andoperatingsystemcomespreconfiguredwitha
listofthesetrustedthirdpartiesandtheir
certificates–theirdigitalfingerprints.Byinstructing
ourdevicestotrusttherootcertificateofthetrusted
thirdparty,theyareabletocomputationallyinfer
trustinallunderlyingentities.
Theprimaryweaknessofthishierarchical
approachtoestablishingtruststemsfromthe
underlyingstructureofcentralizedpower.Theroot
keysofeachcertificateauthorityareacoreassetof
today’sinternet,buttheyareprivatelymanagedand
sensitivetoexposure.Blockchainwasoriginally
designedtouprootthishierarchyandcreateanew
kindoftrustsystemforelectronictransactions.In
essence,theblockchainitselfbecomesitsowntrust
anchorbasedonadistributed,transparentand
community-driveninfrastructure.
Ablockchainremovestheneedfortrustedthird
parties,distributesthecentralizedpowerofthe
certificateauthorities,andallowsanonymous
memberstojoinandcontributetotheinfrastructure
attheirowndiscretion–althoughataveryhighcost

3. BLOCKCHAINS AND ONLINE TRUST ✱
APRIL 4, 2019 ✱ ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW 3
Terms and abbreviations
ABI – Application Binary Interface | IOT – Internet of Things | JSON – JavaScript Object Notation
| POW – Proof of Work | REST– Representational State Transfer | SOFIE – Secure Open Federation
for Internet Everywhere | TEE – Trusted Execution Environment
intermsofthroughput.Whiledigitalcurrenciesare
stronglyassociatedwithblockchains–the“coins”
aregeneratedbycontributingresourcestothe
networksandspentbymakingtransactionsthatare
processedbythenetworks–thevalueofblockchains
goesbeyonddigitalcurrencies.
Publicversusprivateblockchains
BitcoinandEthereumarebothclassifiedaspublic,
permissionlessblockchains.Thesesystemshave
threepropertiesthatformthebasisoftrust.Firstly,
anyonecanbecomeaparticipantbycontributing
computingresources–thereisnoneedtohavea
priorrelationtoanyothernodeinthesystem.
Secondly,generatinganewblockontheblockchain
iscomputationallyexpensive,astheconsensus
mechanismisdesignedtorequireacertainamount
ofwall-clocktimetocompleteregardlessofthesize
ofthenetwork.Andlastly,itisimpossibletopredict
whichcontributorwillbethefirsttocompletethe
nextblock.
Ifmorethanhalfofthecomputationalresources
inthesystemaretechnicallywell-behaved,their
resultswilldominateanymaliciousor
malfunctioningnodesthatmaytrytoalterthe
historyofthesysteminanerroneousdirection.In
theconsensusmethodusedinthesesystems,known
asproofofwork(PoW),therearenoshortcutsto
generatingnewblocks;itcanonlybedonethrougha
computationallyintensivehashingprocess.Other
schemesforconsensusarebeingdevelopedand
discussed,butthesehaveyettoseewidespreaduse.
Thedifferencebetweenpublicblockchainsand
private,permissionedonesisthatthelatteremploy
strongidentities,usermanagementandaprotected
datastructure.Privateblockchainstargetusecases
somewherebetweenapublicblockchaininan
untrustedpublicenvironmentandadistributed
databasehostedinafullytrustedinternal
deployment.Thissegmentincludesbankconsortia,
forexample,thathaveamutualrelianceandatleast
somelevelofpreestablishedtrust,butwherea
privatelymanagedbackendfortransaction
managementisnotafeasiblealternative.Duetothe
differenceinnetworkconstitutionandthepresence
ofatleastpartialtrust,thecomputationallyexpensive
PoWschemeisnotrequiredinprivateblockchains.
Instead,theycanusethesameconsensusalgorithms
thatareusedinotherdistributedsystems,designed
tocompensateforbothmaliciousandmalfunctioning
nodes.
Thedifferencesinscopebetweenpublicand
privateblockchainshavealargeimpacton
technologychoices.Fromatechnicalstandpoint,
thereisvirtuallynooverlapbetweenthetwodifferent
typesofblockchains.Itisalsosignificanttonotethat
publicblockchainsarebydesignverydifficultfor
companiestomonetize,whichiswhymostfirmshave
chosentofocusonprivateblockchainsinstead.
[PRIVATEBLOCKCHAINS]
EMPLOYSTRONGIDENTITIES,
USERMANAGEMENTANDA
PROTECTEDDATASTRUCTURE

4. ✱ BLOCKCHAINS AND ONLINE TRUST
4 ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW ✱ APRIL 4, 2019
Themostcommonlyusedsoftwaretechnology
torealizeprivateblockchaininstallationsis
HyperledgerFabric.
Keytechnicalpropertiesofsuitableusecases
Wehaveidentifiedfourkeytechnicalproperties
ofthepartial-trustusecasesthatweexpecttobe
suitableforblockchains:(1)asharedtrustedhistory,
(2)structurebuiltonmultiplestakeholdersof
equalstanding,(3)largelyindependentnodes,
and(4)accesstodatahistory.
Sharedtrustedhistory
Thekeybenefitoftheblockchainistrustbetween
stakeholders,andtoestablishahistoryof
transactionsthatisveryhardtotamperwith.
Multiple,equalstakeholders
Themainnicheofblockchainsliesintheareaof
partialtrustbetweenroughlyequalstakeholders.
Largelyindependentnodes
Usecaseswhereeachnodeoperatesindependently
andusestheblockchainforsupportaredesirable
duetotherelativelyhighcostand/ordelayofrunning
transactionsontheblockchain.
Accesstodatahistory
Becausethehistoricaldataisnormallyretained
indefinitely,itishighlybeneficialifthereisavalueto
theusecaseinhavingaccesstohistorical
transactions.
Relatedtechnologies
Thetechnicaldevelopmentandbroadeningof
blockchainsisconstantlyongoing.Byalteringor
extendingthecorefunctionality,wecanbothwiden
thescopeandapplicabilityofblockchainsasa
technologyandmitigatethelimitationsofexisting
offerings.
Smartcontracts
Withtraditionaldatabases,itisstraightforwardto
createsoftwarethatmonitorsadatabase,determines
whetherornotacertainconditionhasbeenfulfilled,
andupdatesthedatabaseaccordingly.Thisisexactly
whatsmartcontractsdoaswell,butinthetrusted
environmentofblockchains.Asmartcontractis
neithersmartnoralegalcontract;rather,itisan
agreementbetweentwoormorepartiesthatis
formulatedandenforcedwithimmutable
cryptographiccode.Thiscodeisexecutedonevery
nodewithintheblockchainnetworkanddetermines
howdatainthedistributedledgerismodified.Ifa
smartcontractdependsonexternalinformation,an
oraclemustbeusedtofeedthisinformationintothe
ledgertomakeitaccessibletothesmartcontracts.
Smartcontractsremoverelianceontrusted
intermediarieswhenmakingbusinessagreements.
Typically,asmartcontractincludestermsand
conditions,performancemetricsandpossibly
penalties.Duringexecution,thesmartcontractwill
monitor,verifyandenforceagreedconditions
automatically,whichcanpotentiallysavetimeand
moneyforthepartiesinvolved.
Thetechnologybehindsmartcontractsis
promising,buttherearesomecaveats;smart
contractsneedtobeverycarefullydesignedand
implementedtoensurethattheresultingcontract
actsexactlyasintendedgivenanyinputorevent.
Misconfiguredsmartcontractsarevirtually
impossibletocancel(unlesstheyhavebeendesigned
forrenegotiationfromthestart),whichconsiderably
increasesthedemandsofdeployingasmartcontract.
THESMARTCONTRACT
WILLMONITOR,VERIFY
ANDENFORCEAGREED
CONDITIONS
AUTOMATICALLY

5. BLOCKCHAINS AND ONLINE TRUST ✱
APRIL 4, 2019 ✱ ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW 5
Hashgraphs
ThedrawbacksofthePoWconsensusalgorithm
usedbypublicblockchains(intermsofdelay,
throughput,energyefficiencyandtransactioncosts)
haveinspiredthedevelopmentofothertechnologies
targetingthechallengeofdistributedtrust.
Hashgraphsareonesuchexample.Hashgraphs
reorganizethetransactionblocksfromachainof
blockstoadirectedacyclicgraphofblocks,which
enablesnewblockstobeaddedtothesystemwithout
waitingforallpreviousblockstobeorganized.
Theorganizationofblocksenablesmultiplelines
oftransactionstoberuninparallel,andintheory
allowsforasystemthathasconsiderablylower
delaysandhigherthroughputcomparedwitha
conventionalblockchain.Hashgraphsalsotryto
replacethecomputationallyexpensivePoW
consensusalgorithmswithotherapproachesto
increasethethroughputandenergyefficiencyofthe
system.Smartcontractscanrunonhashgraphsina
waythatissimilartohowtheyrunonblockchains.
Hashgraphsrepresentaboldtechnologicalleap
thatstrivestoovercomeallthedrawbacksofpublic
blockchains.However,currenthashgraph
technologiesarenotopenandavailableinthesame
wayaspublicblockchaintechnologiesare,which
arguablymakesthembettersuitedtosolvedifferent
usecasesthatareclosertothoseofprivate
blockchains.Somehashgraphtechnologiesarealso
designedaroundpatentedalgorithmsandbuilt-in
claimstopartsoftherevenue,whichgoesagainstthe
originalintentionofblockchaintocreatea
decentralizedanddemocraticinfrastructure.
TrustedExecutionEnvironments
ATrustedExecutionEnvironment(TEE)is
establishedwithinanindividualdevicebyusingan
enclave–ahardware-protectedpartoftheCPU
chipsetthatoperatesonencryptedmemoryand
storageforsecuritypurposes.Thisapproachenables
theexecutionofselectedsoftwareinisolationfromthe
underlyingoperatingsystemlayers,effectivelyin
isolationfromanyattacksoriginatingfromhacking
orexploitingoperatingsystemsoftware.The
technologywasinitiallylaunchedforsomechipsetsin
theearly2000sbuthasonlyrecentlyreachedwide-scale
deploymentindevice,desktopandserverhardware.
Fromapublicblockchainperspective,TEEsmay
offerabreakthroughintermsofconsensus
algorithms.AkeyfeatureofmodernTEEsisthe
abilitytoattestthecoderunninginsidetheenclave
throughahardware-supportedasymmetrickey
exchange.Theabilitytoexecutetrustedand
verifiablecodeonotherwisecompromisedsystems
laysthefoundationforanewgenerationofconsensus
algorithms,anchoringthetrustinthesignatureofthe
codebeingexecutedratherthanintheworkbeing
carriedoutortheidentityofthenodeowner.Early
resultsofthisdevelopmentinpublicblockchainsshow
considerablyincreasedtransactionspeedsandreduced
energyconsumption.Theimplicationsareyettobe
fullydeterminedforprivateblockchainsthatrelyon
classicaldistributedsystemalgorithmsforconsensus.
Usecasesandapplications
AtEricsson,webelievethatarobustblockchain
foundationcanincreaseecosysteminvolvementand
enablenewbusinessmodelsforrevenuegeneration.
Inlightofthis,wehavebeentestingtheapplication
ofblockchaintechnologyintherealmof
telecommunicationforsometime,andwehave
identifiedthreeusecasesthatareparticularly
promisingintermsofserviceswithmonetization
potential.Oneiscalledthesmartcontractplatform,
thesecondisknownasIDbrokering,andthethirdis
aNubo-basedvirtualservicesmarketplace.
TEEsMAYOFFERA
BREAKTHROUGHIN
TERMSOFCONSENSUS
ALGORITHMS

6. ✱ BLOCKCHAINS AND ONLINE TRUST
6 ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW ✱ APRIL 4, 2019
Smartcontractplatformforservicesproviders
Thesmartcontractplatformisaninnovation
platformdrivenbyEricssonthatallowsoperators
whoareinnovatingwithustoexploreblockchain
andsmart-contracttechnologytooffernew
services,evaluateplatformbusinessopportunities
andaddressinternalefficienciestoreduce
thecostofdoingbusiness.Oneinteresting
usecasefortheplatformisitsapplicationto
roamingclearanceandsettlementservices[1]
asdepictedinFigure1.
Thehandlingofroamingsubscriberstoday
reliesontrustedthirdparties(dataclearing
companies,forexample)tomanagetheclearing
processesandsettlementrelatedtobilling.
Thesmartcontractplatformroamingsettlement
applicationreplacesthese(oftenexpensive)third
partieswithatrusted,distributedanddecentralized
blockchainsolutionthatincludessmartcontracts
(forexample,HyperledgerFabricchaincode).
Thesmartcontractplatformcantakeadvantage
ofcoreattributesofblockchain’ssharedledger
approachtoprovidetrust,securityandtransparency
acrosstheparticipatingecosystem.Smartcontracts
canbeusedtosupportthefollowingthreemain
groupsofservices:
❭❭ roaming management, including agreement
definition and archiving
❭❭ data clearing, such as billing record creation,
conversion services and fraud management
❭❭ financial clearing and settlement services
for voice, SMS, MMS and data transactions.
Theinsightsfromsmartcontractplatformexperiments
willvalidatethekeytechnicalpropertieswheretrust
Figure 1 Roaming clearance and settlement, with and without third-party support
Roaming
settlement via data
clearing house Roaming
settlement based
on blockchain
and smart
contracts
Operator A
Operator C
Operator C
Operator B Operator BOperator A
With data clearing house Without data clearing house
(blockchain enabled)

7. BLOCKCHAINS AND ONLINE TRUST ✱
APRIL 4, 2019 ✱ ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW 7
canbedistributedandgoverninadecentralized
mannerandthroughdataintegrityandtransparency
supportedbetweenthecounterparties.
IDbrokering
Wehavedesignedandimplementedadecentralized
systemforIDbrokeringbasedonaconceptthat
createstrustrelationsbetweendigitalidentities
andthesystemsthathandlethem.Thesystem
capitalizesonthestrengthofblockchainsto
expressandmanagetrustrelationsinindustry-
widesolutionsandcreatesaunifiedmechanism
forIDmanagementacrossunderlying
heterogeneousIDtechnologies.
IDbrokeringmakesiteasytoestablishencrypted
andtrustedconnectivityforIoTdevicesthatare
onthemove,orforpersonaldevicesthatarecarried
acrossdifferentadministrativenetworkdomains.
Forexample,byallowingdeviceIDstoactasdigital
passportsandregisteringthe(non-sensitive)
passportIDsofdeviceswhenbookingatrip,the
networksthedevicespassthrough(including
airports,hotelsandconferencefacilities)canuse
theirowntrustedIDstograntsecureinternet
accesswithoutmanualauthentication.
TheIDbrokeringconceptisbasedon
threekeyaspects:
1. the self-sovereignty of ID domains, where
devices are provisioned with any secure ID
technology deemed appropriate, and where the
ID secret is securely stored in a TEE
2. authentication utilizes the trust relation
expressed in a blockchain-based backend,
where instantaneous access rights for specific
devices in specific networks are managed
3. the blockchain backend enables the system to
reach a shared consensus on a global scale, as
no single party is the main controller or
beneficiary of the system.
EricssondemonstratedanIDbrokering
implementation–inthiscaseacustomlayerontopof
HyperledgerFabricusingblockchainsandTEEs–at
MobileWorldCongressin2017.Init,eachIoTdevice
isrepresentedbyanode,belongstoadomain,and
hasrelationswithownersexpressedbylinks,as
illustratedinFigure2.Withthisapproach,we
emphasizethedecentralizednatureofapplications
enabledbytheblockchain.Eachdomainowner
Figure 2 ID domain creation and ID crosslinking with the support of blockchain
Owner1 Owner2 Owner3
OwnerD3
User3D1
User2D1
User3D1
User1D3
User2D3
Blockchain
Domain D1 Domain D2 Domain D3
Owner 1
User1D1 User2D1
User3D1
Owner2 Owner3
OwnerD2 User1D3
User2D3

8. ✱ BLOCKCHAINS AND ONLINE TRUST
8 ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW ✱ APRIL 4, 2019
hasfullsovereigntyoftheirdomain,andshared
contextoftheblockchainenablesadomainto
interactandtograntandrevokeaccessdynamically.
TheIDbrokeringsolutionsharestheconceptof
self-sovereigntywiththeSovrinsystem[2],andis
oblivioustothespecificIDtechnologiesusedfor
authenticationandIDprovisioning.Since2017,
wehavebeenworkingonIDbrokeringandits
coexistencewithpublickeyinfrastructuresolutions.
Nubo virtualservicesmarketplace
New5Gfeaturesenableoperatornetworkstobe
virtuallysegmentedintodifferentlogicalnetworks
(slices)similarlytohownetworkresourcesincloud
infrastructurecanprovidedifferentvirtualnetworks
fordifferenttenants.Theriseofvirtualnetwork
functions–thatis,virtualizedandsoftware-based
routersorfirewalls–hascreatedthefoundationfora
marketofnetworkserviceswherethesetof
componentscanbecomposedspecificallyforeach
tenant.Withslicingandvirtualizationofnetwork
componentsin5G,weenvisionthatfuture5G
operatorservicesarelikelytohavesimilar
characteristics,withatailoredcompositionof
servicesforeachnetworkslice.
WedesignedtheNubovirtualservices
marketplacetomeetthespecificrequirementsof
virtualizationusecases.Itsarchitectureisillustrated
inFigure3.TheNubomarketplaceismadeupof
buyersofvirtualizedservices,referredtoas“tenants”,
andthesellersofthoseservices,referredtoas
“serviceproviders”.Thetenantscanbeindividual
users,enterprisecustomersorevenoperators.A
blockchainwithsmartcontractsprovidesthetenants
withthebasictrustplatformforpricediscoveryon
theservices.Nubo’stenantandservicemanagement
Figure 3 Nubo virtual services marketplace architecture
Nubo portal
Tenant
Service
provider
Settlement
processor
Saranyu
tenant
REST
Saranyu
tenant
REST
Web3
ABI
Bulk
service
usage data
Saranyu
Dapp
Cassandra
Quorum
Service
manager
Non-multi-
tenant
services
Multi-tenant
services
Saranyu
service
REST
Service
manager
REST
Saranyu
service
REST

9. BLOCKCHAINS AND ONLINE TRUST ✱
APRIL 4, 2019 ✱ ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW 9
microservice(knownasSaranyu)utilizestheJ.P.
MorganQuorumblockchain,whichsupportssmart
contractswritteninSolidity.
Tenantsandserviceshavecontractaccountson
theblockchain,whichgoverntheirinteractionwith
themarketplaceandeachother.Serviceslisttheir
resourceofferingsontheblockchainthrough
SaranyuintheformofaJSON(JavaScriptObject
Notation)documentdescribingtheattributesofthe
resources.Attributescanbequotalimitedorhave
chargesassociatedwiththem.Tenantsrequestthe
delegationofresourcesandmustcryptographically
signtheJSONdocument,indicatingthatthey
committoabidebythechargingandquota
advertisedintheresourceofferings.
Servicesrecordtenantusageandsendusage
recordstoSaranyu,whichSaranyustoresinthe
Cassandradistributeddatabase,depositingasigned
hashoftherecordintotheblockchaintoensurethe
recordsarenotchanged.Periodically,Saranyuruns
abillingcycleinwhichtenantchargesforservices
aretotaledupandsubmittedtoasettlement
processor,whichcanbeacreditcardprocessorora
cryptocurrencyaccount.
Nubocanalsosupportcloudcompute/
networking/storageservicesaswellasserverless
functionsordistributedoperatingsystemtypesof
services.AprototypeofNubowasdevelopedat
Ericssonin2018,featuringanexperimental
cryptocurrencychargingsystemthatchargedfor
servicesusingaprivateEthereumaccountdeployed
intheEricssonResearchDataCenterinLund,
Sweden.ServiceslistedincludedtheNefeleCloud
3.0distributedoperatingsystem,theEthereum
serverlessfunctionsystem,andtheUniversityof
California,Berkeley,RISELabartificialintelligence
executionenvironmentRay.
Standardizationandexternalcollaboration
Themassadoptionofblockchainswillrequireboth
technicalandbusiness-modelinteroperability
betweenorganizations,permissionedblockchain
consortia,andevenpermissionlessblockchains.
Consequently,blockchainstandardizationis
underwayandseveralindustryconsortiahave
formedtostriveforinteroperabilityandharmonized
processes.Ericssoniscontributingtothe
standardizationprocessthroughouractive
involvementintheGSMAandallmajortelecom
andICTstandardizationbodies,aswellasby
becomingafoundingmemberinanETSI
(EuropeanTelecommunicationsStandards
Institute)workinggrouponpermission
distributedledgers.
Withrespecttocollaboration,theEUand
severalnationalgovernmentsarecurrently
sponsoringacademicandindustrialcollaboration
forblockchainresearchandbusinessacceleration.
EricssonhaschosentoparticipateintheEUH2020-
IoTSOFIE(SecureOpenFederationforInternet
Everywhere)project2018-2020togetherwith
severalindustry-leadingcompaniesandacademic
institutionstoresearchblockchaininteroperability
acrosssiloedIoTapplications,includingthe
demonstrationofresultsthroughseverallivepilots.
Wearealsocollaboratingdirectlywithglobal
technologycompaniesintheareasoftrusted
computingandblockchains.
Conclusion
Ericssonseessignificantvalueinblockchainsasa
trustenablerandpotentialdisruptorthatcanenable
completelynewbusinessmodelsinthedigitalasset
market.Theusecaseswehaveevaluatedforprivate
blockchainssofar,bothin-houseandtogetherwith
THEMASSADOPTION
OFBLOCKCHAINSWILL
REQUIREBOTHTECHNICAL
ANDBUSINESS-MODEL
INTEROPERABILITY

10. ✱ BLOCKCHAINS AND ONLINE TRUST
10 ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW ✱ APRIL 4, 2019
Further reading
❭❭ Ericsson, blog, Secure brokering of digital identities, available at:
https://www.ericsson.com/en/blog/2017/7/secure-brokering-of-digital-identities
❭❭ Ericsson, blog, Smart contracts for identities, available at:
https://www.ericsson.com/en/blog/2017/10/smart-contracts-for-identities
❭❭ Ericsson, blog, Secure IoT identities, available at:
https://www.ericsson.com/en/blog/2017/3/secure-iot-identities
References
1. Monitor Deloitte, Blockchain @ Telco: How blockchain can impact the telecommunications industry
and its relevance to the C-Suite, 2016, available at: https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/za/
Documents/technology-media-telecommunications/za_TMT_Blockchain_TelCo.pdf
2. White paper, Evernym in cooperation with the Sovrin Foundation, What Goes on the Ledger?, September
2018, available at: https://sovrin.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/What-Goes-On-The-Ledger.pdf
globaltelcoandenterprisecustomers,haveachieved
promisingresults.Todate,wehavedemonstrated
thevalueofblockchainforroamingsettlementand
otherusecasessuchasIoTdatamonetization,supply
chainmanagement,handlingofprivacy-sensitive
data,licensemanagementandIDmanagement.
OURNEXTSTEPS
WILLINCLUDEFURTHER
EXPLORATIONOFTHE
POTENTIALOFPUBLIC
BLOCKCHAINSAND
HASHGRAPHS
Ournextstepswillincludefurtherexplorationof
thepotentialofpublicblockchainsandhashgraphs.
Whilewearekeentoaccelerateourblockchain
effortsfromexplorationtocommodificationand
massadoption,werecognizethatanumberof
fundamentalissuesmustberesolvedbefore
wegetthere.Appropriategovernancemodels
aroundblockchainconsortiamustbeestablished,
forexample,alongwithtechnologyandbusiness
modelinteroperability.Thequestionsofhowto
createaviableplatformbusinessandhowto
ensurethatcontractsactontrustworthydata
mustalsobeanswered.Wewillcontinuetowork
ontheseaspectsinclosecollaborationwithour
customersandotherindustrystakeholders
throughstandardizationandjointinnovation.

11. BLOCKCHAINS AND ONLINE TRUST ✱
APRIL 4, 2019 ✱ ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW 11
Daniel Bergström
◆ is a senior researcher
in distributed computing
at Ericsson Research. He
joined Ericsson in 2014
and works with all things
distributed. His current focus
is on secure infrastructures
for artificial intelligence
workloads. He holds a Ph.D.
in computing science from
Umeå University, Sweden.
Ben Smeets
◆ is a senior expert in trusted
computing at Ericsson
Research. He holds a Ph.D.
in information theory from
Lund University, Sweden,
where he also serves as
a professor. He joined
Ericsson in 1998, working on
security solutions for mobile
phone platforms. Smeets is
currently working on trusted
computing technologies in
connection with containers
and secure enclaves.
Mikael Jaatinen
◆ is a security specialist at
Business Area Technologies
and New Businesses. He
joined Ericsson in 1996
and has been working
with blockchains since
2014. He holds an M.Sc. in
computer science from Åbo
Akademi University in Turku,
Finland. Jaatinen is currently
responsible for work
packages in the blockchain
project SOFIE and with
artificial intelligence/
machine learning-based
security analytics.
James Kempf
◆ worked for Ericsson
Research in Silicon Valley as
a principal researcher from
2008 to 2018. He earned a
Ph.D. in systems engineering
from the University of
Arizona in Tucson, the US,
in 1984, holds 21 patents
and is the author of three
books and many papers.
He currently works as a
senior principal architect
for Equinix in Sunnyvale,
California.
Jonas Lundberg
◆ joined Ericsson in 1997
and currently serves as a
senior researcher at Ericsson
Research. His research
interests include distributed
computing and blockchain
technology, and his current
focus is blockchain platforms
for rapid prototyping.
Lundberg holds an M.Sc. in
computer science from Luleå
University of Technology,
Sweden.
Nicklas Sandgren
◆ is a senior researcher
in the field of distributed
computing at Ericsson
Research. He joined
Ericsson in 1998 and has
worked in many different
areas, including speech
and channel coding, VoIP
prototyping, WebRTC and
DevOps. He holds an M.Sc. in
computer science from Luleå
University of Technology.
Gaspar Wosa
◆ currently serves as
innovation manager at
Ericsson ONE in Business
Area Technologies and
New Businesses. He joined
Ericsson in 1997 and his
primary interest at present
is the business model
impact of blockchain and
smart contracts. He holds a
B.Sc. in telecommunication
engineering from
Polytechnic University of
Indonesia and an MBA from
IPMI International Business
School in Kalibata, Indonesia.
theauthors

12. ISSN 0014-0171
284 23-3327 | Uen
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