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Honeywell Brings Blockchain to Used Aircraft Parts Market

36 points by prostoalex 7y ago

momentmaker 7y ago
EY had just released Nightfall: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/say-hello-nightfall-paul-brody-1f/ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/say-hello-nightfall-paul-brod...
brighton36 7y ago
Linked lists are the future of aircraft parts!
fenwick67 7y ago
So sick of these companies using blockchain hype to sell what is really just a centralized database.
- eli 7y ago
  This is going to sound like trolling but I don’t think there ARE any blockchain companies who wouldn’t be better off with a centralized database.
  - tuesdayrain 7y ago
    Companies that focus on online gambling, for example, would not be better off with a centralized database. To my knowledge, there used to be no way for someone engaging in online gambling to verify that the game is using honest odds. With Ethereum smart contracts, they can see exactly what code is being executes.
  - ShorsHammer 7y ago
    It's not trolling, seems quite a valid observation. Still, to disagree though: Hashing and storing digital evidence seems like a good use. You can prove without a doubt that a certain picture, video, OS image existed at a certain point in time. Current police methods for digital forensics leave a lot to be desired with regards to this stuff. Chain of custody gets a lot murkier with bits and bytes.
AlexMuir 7y ago
Here’s the ‘groundbreaking blockchain marketplace’. Looks like a shitty ad-filled Bootstrap template to me. Blockchain is vaguely mentioned halfway down the “about” page. https://www.godirecttrade.com/about-us https://www.godirecttrade.com/about-us
- woah 7y ago
  I’m not seeing any of the great visual design that blockchain is supposed to bring into the equation for enterprises.
ropman76 7y ago
While this a great service for the aircraft parts industry, I am not seeing why this couldn’t be done with a database and a properly secured REST API.
- seibelj 7y ago
  Reduces risk of fraud or information getting corrupted accidentally, as changing one bit of data would corrupt the blockchain. I’m not saying you couldn’t do it without blockchain, but there is an argument about why that property is inherently useful in this market.
  - TheMagicHorsey 7y ago
    Do you think banks and other users of databases don't think about fraud and corruption? What do you think we have been doing in database research for the last 50 years? Do you know why a blockchain is useful? Its to enable fraud and corruption detection in a decentralized way. If you are centralized, blockchain is a stupid way to achieve these goals. I expect more from the WSJ. I expect more from Silicon Valley than this kind of shameless hype.
    - seibelj 7y ago
      Core banking technology is from the 70s and hundreds of billions have been invested to keep it running, and upgrading the base later is essentially impossible. This is why everything in banking is super slow and fraud is still rampant. If you seriously think the banking system is the pinnacle of computer science you have rocks in your head.
      - walterstucco 7y ago
        He's right though: Blockchain is (maybe) useful in a decentralised system between untrusted actors Banking (and spare parts market) are the exact opposite: centralised systems between trusted actors A bank would never accept a transaction from an unknown source, just like you wouldn't buy replacement parts for airplanes from someone you don't already know
TheMagicHorsey 7y ago
"Honeywell Aerospace first deployed the system based on open-source blockchain technology called Hyperledger and tested it on Microsoft Corp.’s Azure cloud. The company moved the blockchain to an internal cloud to be able to control security and data privacy, Mr. Muthukrishnan said." So in other words, they might as well have built a normal application on a reliable database like MySQL. I expected more from WSJ, but apparently their journalists are morons and don't exercise even iota of skepticism in the face of blockchain hype. Blockchain offers real benefits ... but this application is not one of them. WSJ: HIRE PEOPLE THAT DO THEIR JOBS PROPERLY.
- acct1771 7y ago
  Honeywell is a defense contractor. I too am surprised at this lack of quality that I find inconsistent with the publication. So much so that it makes me suspicious.
chaz6 7y ago
I do not see how this would prevent an imitation part being substituted for a real part somewhere along the line.
- joezydeco 7y ago
  So is there a market potential here? A way to hash a physical object?
  - dane-pgp 7y ago
    Depending on how broadly you want to define "hash a physical object", there is a trick that was described by this memorable HN comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18138699 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18138699
    - joezydeco 7y ago
      Yeah, it seems like an arms race you can't win.

36 points by prostoalex 7y ago

EY had just released Nightfall: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/say-hello-nightfall-paul-brody-1f/ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/say-hello-nightfall-paul-brod...

brighton36 7y ago

Linked lists are the future of aircraft parts!

fenwick67 7y ago

So sick of these companies using blockchain hype to sell what is really just a centralized database.

eli 7y ago
This is going to sound like trolling but I don’t think there ARE any blockchain companies who wouldn’t be better off with a centralized database.
- tuesdayrain 7y ago
  Companies that focus on online gambling, for example, would not be better off with a centralized database. To my knowledge, there used to be no way for someone engaging in online gambling to verify that the game is using honest odds. With Ethereum smart contracts, they can see exactly what code is being executes.
- ShorsHammer 7y ago
  It's not trolling, seems quite a valid observation. Still, to disagree though: Hashing and storing digital evidence seems like a good use. You can prove without a doubt that a certain picture, video, OS image existed at a certain point in time. Current police methods for digital forensics leave a lot to be desired with regards to this stuff. Chain of custody gets a lot murkier with bits and bytes.

AlexMuir 7y ago

Here’s the ‘groundbreaking blockchain marketplace’. Looks like a shitty ad-filled Bootstrap template to me. Blockchain is vaguely mentioned halfway down the “about” page. https://www.godirecttrade.com/about-us https://www.godirecttrade.com/about-us

woah 7y ago
I’m not seeing any of the great visual design that blockchain is supposed to bring into the equation for enterprises.

ropman76 7y ago

While this a great service for the aircraft parts industry, I am not seeing why this couldn’t be done with a database and a properly secured REST API.

seibelj 7y ago
Reduces risk of fraud or information getting corrupted accidentally, as changing one bit of data would corrupt the blockchain. I’m not saying you couldn’t do it without blockchain, but there is an argument about why that property is inherently useful in this market.
- TheMagicHorsey 7y ago
  Do you think banks and other users of databases don't think about fraud and corruption? What do you think we have been doing in database research for the last 50 years? Do you know why a blockchain is useful? Its to enable fraud and corruption detection in a decentralized way. If you are centralized, blockchain is a stupid way to achieve these goals. I expect more from the WSJ. I expect more from Silicon Valley than this kind of shameless hype.
  - seibelj 7y ago
    Core banking technology is from the 70s and hundreds of billions have been invested to keep it running, and upgrading the base later is essentially impossible. This is why everything in banking is super slow and fraud is still rampant. If you seriously think the banking system is the pinnacle of computer science you have rocks in your head.
    - walterstucco 7y ago
      He's right though: Blockchain is (maybe) useful in a decentralised system between untrusted actors Banking (and spare parts market) are the exact opposite: centralised systems between trusted actors A bank would never accept a transaction from an unknown source, just like you wouldn't buy replacement parts for airplanes from someone you don't already know

TheMagicHorsey 7y ago

"Honeywell Aerospace first deployed the system based on open-source blockchain technology called Hyperledger and tested it on Microsoft Corp.’s Azure cloud. The company moved the blockchain to an internal cloud to be able to control security and data privacy, Mr. Muthukrishnan said." So in other words, they might as well have built a normal application on a reliable database like MySQL. I expected more from WSJ, but apparently their journalists are morons and don't exercise even iota of skepticism in the face of blockchain hype. Blockchain offers real benefits ... but this application is not one of them. WSJ: HIRE PEOPLE THAT DO THEIR JOBS PROPERLY.

acct1771 7y ago
Honeywell is a defense contractor. I too am surprised at this lack of quality that I find inconsistent with the publication. So much so that it makes me suspicious.

chaz6 7y ago

I do not see how this would prevent an imitation part being substituted for a real part somewhere along the line.

joezydeco 7y ago
So is there a market potential here? A way to hash a physical object?
- dane-pgp 7y ago
  Depending on how broadly you want to define "hash a physical object", there is a trick that was described by this memorable HN comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18138699 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18138699
  - joezydeco 7y ago
    Yeah, it seems like an arms race you can't win.