Internet of Services (IOS) - a novel highly scalable blockchain

Internet of Services or ‘IOS’ is a new blockchain paradigm innovated to particularly solve the scalability issue associated with most cryptocurrencies. IOS is an under-progress blockchain platform, which was developed by a team from Singapore. IOS was launched last year in December and is said to have the potential to process up to 100,000 secure transactions per second.
The distributed ledger technology ‘blockchain’ came into life when Bitcoin was launched in 2009. As bitcoin grew, so did its underlying technology. It has now become a widely adopted system in fields like medicine, trading, and education among others. Although it is gaining popularity, the blockchain does have its drawbacks.

The most prominent issue is that of scalability. For the Blockchain technology to be truly successful, it must be able to handle overloaded networks such as Facebook, Amazon, etc. Currently, the blockchain technology is lacking in this very area. Scalability issues are leading to increased transaction costs and low transaction throughput.

Internet of Services or ‘IOS’ is a new blockchain paradigm innovated to particularly solve the scalability issues associated with most cryptocurrencies. IOS is an under-progress blockchain platform, which was developed by a team from Singapore. IOS was launched last year in December and is said to have the potential to process up to 100,000 secure transactions per second.

To do so, it introduces a number of new protocols. These include Efficient Distributed Sharding (EDS), TransEpoch, Atomix, Micro State Block (MSB), and Proof-of-Believability (PoB). All of these innovative contributions are basically aimed at a higher transaction throughput.

The model’s new consensus mechanism ‘Proof-of-Believability’ works by verifying each node through its past behavior and contributions. It hopes to create a more intelligent blockchain than those of Bitcoin and Ethereum, which deploy proof-of-work consensus algorithms. (Note: Ethereum will turn into a proof-of-stake blockchain via implementation of "Casper" later in 2018).

IOS deploys Distributed Randomness Protocol (DRP) through a “fairness” algorithm, which is different from existing algorithms that generate distributed random numbers among nodes. DRP, however, is useful only when all nodes are known to be fool-proof. This is where Efficient Distributed Sharding comes in. It conquers this problem by using an algorithm that designs backup protocols for problematic nodes.

IOS also employs other methods on the side for scalability. ‘Atomix’ protocol is employed to enforce the atomicity of transactions within a Byzantine setting. The model utilizes another mechanism named ‘Micro State Block’ to reduce the bootstrapping and storage costs for validators of transactions.

The IOS blockchain is touted as “the secure, scalable blockchain that actually works.” Almost every major cryptocurrency network is facing scalability issues, including leading ones like Ethereum and Bitcoin. If the promise of processing up to 100,000 transactions proves to be true, IOS would stand far ahead of both of these blockchains.

IOS is backed by an impressive team of experienced developers and was founded by Terrance Wang, Jimmy Zhong, and Ray Xiao. It was launched through a private token sale that was completed last month. The sale, whose earnings have not been disclosed yet, was open only to institutional investors.