aitos.io builds important cornerstones by joining RISC-V International and forms new Blockchain SIG with ecosystem partners
Shanghai, China, February 23, 2021 /MWC Shanghai 2021/ — On Feb. 23, 2021 at MWC Shanghai, aitos.io, an innovative Blockchain and IoT infused and integrated firm, together with Wanxiang Blockchain announced they joined RISC-V International as strategic members in front of live audience in Mobile World Congress (MWC 2021) in Shanghai. Joining a very exclusive club of new open source firms, aitos.io strategically positions its future on the tech shoulders of some of the biggest names including WanXiang Blockchain, SiFive, StarFive and LeapFive who are co-sponsoring the newly formed Blockchain SIG within the RISC-V International Association. Expertly-groomed to lead during the preparatory period of the new Blockchain SIG, Mr. Gary Xu, CTO of aitos.io has been appointed as Acting Vice-Chair and with Mrs. Tu Wenhui, Senior Director of Blockchain + Technology Department at Wanxiang Blockchain as Acting Chair, will be in charge of the preparatory work to promote and lead the official launch with an active work configuration of the SIG. The Blockchain SIG’s tactical aim is to cooperate extensively with the RISC-V technology community to understand, define and coordinate the implementation and application of blockchain technologies upon RISC-V architecture moving forward.
Upon learning of his appointment, Gary Xu commented “an open blockchain infrastructure provides a new and straightforward mechanism to transfer the data with trustworthy value. Meanwhile the open RISC-V architecture assures strong and synergistic partnerships to scale blockchain use cases. The blockchain is built on a high level of security, privacy protection, performance, etc., which are heavily dependent on semiconductor chips, especially when combining usage of both Internet of Things and blockchain technologies. The openness of RISC-V enables IoT chips to optimize chip functions and performance for blockchain applications during the design-in phase, benefiting blockchain + Internet of Things by delivering unprecedented and extensive value. ”
The Blockchain SIG is proposed to develop a strategy and provide oversight for blockchain technology and solutions in RISC-V architecture and software ecosystem. Major goals include assurance there are no gaps in the ISA or software and that it will meet or exceed industry expectations in performance and security (e.g. privacy-preserving, cryptographic algorithms, Trusted Execution, data ownership, integrity, provenance, etc.)
In addition, the Blockchain SIG will work with the Implementation of other horizontal technical working groups to make sure a designated specialist in the community develops a RISC-V based Proof of Concept (PoC) to ensure the whole stack from hardware to software meets the goals.
As with all groups, the SIG will engage and interact with other appropriate committees and groups.
Vincent Y. Wang, Executive President of Wanxiang Blockchain, said that the RISC-V International Blockchain SIG initiated by Wanxiang Blockchain, aitos.io, LeapFive, SiFive, StarFive and other important partners will promote the integration of blockchain technologies with the RISC-V community. Wanxiang Blockchain has been committed to building a trusted database and collaborating with PlatONE, a next-generation blockchain consortium supporting privacy-preserving computing developed by Wanxiang Blockchain and Juzix. With its open and extensible architecture, the RISC-V ISA supports cryptographic algorithms and enables developers to create secure, trusted solutions. In the future, these companies will continue to build solutions to integrate different technologies so that more developers can take advantage of blockchain, which promises to help empower digital transformation across key industries and market segments like the Distributed Cognitive Industrial Internet, Digital Cities, Asset Digitization, etc.
“Our new Blockchain SIG will give the RISC-V community the opportunity to collaborate on blockchain technologies in order to enable the best performance and functionality in the RISC-V ISA and software ecosystem. Blockchain is already a big disruptor for the silicon industry, and we are committed to helping our members take advantage of the opportunities that lie ahead,” said Mark Himelstein, CTO, RISC-V International.
“Joining RISC-V International is in line with our innovative strategy of integrating IoT applications with blockchain. By creating the Blockchain SIG and rolling out an in-depth cooperation with the RISC-V community, we will optimize our BoAT blockchain application framework to provide better support for RISC-V solutions, accelerate the application of IoT devices in blockchain-based services and build a trusted IoT database to make this data valuable and open,” said Leo Lin, CEO of aitos.io.
Aglaia Kong, CTO of LeapFive, mentioned that as blockchain is used to track value of data, it is getting more important to ensure the origin of data is from a trusted source. By placing root of trust, ensuring each SOC having a unique DNA, having dedicated compute optimized for blockchain of where data is originated become super important. With RISC-V open and extensible architecture, combining blockchain and LeapFive’ s SOC design capabilities, we are working together with Wanxiang Blockchain and aitos.io to build the “Chinese TEA ( Trusted Embedded Architecture)”, so one can ensure the data origin is known, data usage is tractable and trust worthy.
“In the current AIoT era with massive data being produced, processed and analyzed, data and computing security becomes one of the main driving forces of choosing the open and modern RISC-V ISA. It is an inevitable trend for RISC-V to enter blockchain, a promising industry.” StarFive CEO Thomas Xu emphasized with confidence, “The scope of blockchain applications is expanding. Many applications are unexpectedly innovating because of the adoption of blockchain. No matter it is cloud computing of big data, or end to end computing applied to IoT, there is no doubt that RISC-V’s diversity and outstanding functions will even flourish to the blockchain industry.”
“The adoption of RISC-V to develop blockchain technologies, and the use of RISC-V International working groups to encourage broad industry collaboration, demonstrates the power and flexibility of the freely available and open specification ISA,” said Dr. Chris Lattner, President of Engineering and Product, SiFive. “Blockchain is an area where optimized hardware and software designed together can provide tangible benefits for secure, fast processing for supply chain, logistics, or financial operations, improving efficiency and accuracy. This demonstrates the potential for members of RISC-V International working groups to develop and build industry-wide specifications that can be broadly implemented.”
RISC-V International Association Introduction
RISC-V is a free and open instruction set architecture that accomplishes next-generation processor innovation through open standards global collaboration. The RISC-V instruction set architecture was originally developed by the Computer Science Division of the EECS Department of the University of California, Berkeley.
The RISC-V Foundation was established in 2015 as a non-profit organization composed of more than 100 individual member sections. As the first open architecture and collaborative community of software and hardware innovators began to thrive, a powerful momentum for cutting-edge innovation began to excel, bringing with it the freedom to create scalable software and hardware architecture to a new uncharted level. RISC-V has been referred to as a computing design and innovation force with a clear path laid out for the next 50 years.
The RISC-V Foundation’s customary policy is hold a global promotional event each year to bring together a broad ecosystem of players to discuss current and future RISC-V projects and implementation, while jointly promoting future developments for its instruction set architecture. Each specific event will be heavily promoted and lead by leading technology companies and research institutions to discuss RISC-V architecture, commercial and open source implementation, software and chips, vector and security, applications and accelerators, simulation infrastructure, and more. In March 2020, the RISC-V Foundation established the RISC-V International Association and transitioned the headquarters from the USA to Switzerland along with their legal entity.
About aitos.io
aitos.io is a technology start-up focusing on the integrated innovation of IoT and Blockchain. By combining its own rich resources in the IoT industry, aitos.io has raised the standard for a blockchain application framework BoAT (Blockchain of AI Things) with delivered via IoT chipset and module to enable IoT devices quickly implement trusted data on-chain and access the blockchain services. At the end of 2019, aitos.io and nine mainstream cellular wireless module manufacturers jointly initiated the Blockchain IoT Module alliance, and successively released their own brands of BoAT blockchain module products. This resulted in hundreds of millions of IoT devices equipped with the capability of blockchain services access as a trusted entry of IoT+Blockchain application. aitos.io’s vision is to leverage an alliance of global IoT vendors to empower them to tap the value of applications and data.
At the beginning of the project launch in the end of 2018, aitos.io received angel investment from the IoT industry expert group and strategic investment from Wanxiang Blockchain. In December 2018, aitos.io was awarded membership into ARM Accelerator Camp. In June 2019, aitos.io emerged as the founding member of China Unicom IoT and Wanxiang Blockchain IoT+Blockchain Joint Innovation Center. In November, aitos.io became a empowerment partner of Microsoft’s AI and IoT Lab . In August 2020, aitos.io transitioned into Tencent’s Blockchain Accelerator program as the first member. In February 2021, aitos.io joined RISC-V International as strategic member and initiated to form new Blockchain SIG (special interest group).
