Truffle and Microsoft team up to deliver developer tools on the cloud

In a new partnership announced today, Blockchain startup Truffle is integrating its developer tools with cloud platform Microsoft Azure, enabling developers to build blockchain-based production systems.

The partnership means that enterprise customers of Azure–including AP Moller-Maersk Group, ASOS, BMW, Carlsberg Group, FedEx, and HP–can more readily build blockchain-based production systems for some of the world’s biggest companies.

“Early on it was very clear Ethereum developers needed professional, modern development tools. With enterprise’s growing adoption of blockchain technology, Truffle recognizes the importance of this opportunity to bring our blockchain-native experience to enterprise developers across the world through our partnership with Microsoft,” Tim Coulter, CEO and founder of Washington State-based Truffle, said in a statement.

Truffle was one of the first projects in Brooklyn-based Ethereum incubator ConsenSys (which also funds Decrypt), which invested $3 million in the company and spun it out this spring. Truffle, which has already integrated its tool suite with JP Morgan’s Quorum, a private blockchain developed by the investment bank last year, as well as enterprise-focused blockchain startup Axoni’s AxCore, claims to have some 3 million users.

Leveraging the best of Truffle’s integration tools and Azure is Microsoft’s extended Visual Studio Code, which gives developers an Integrated Development Environment (IDE). This permits developers to build smart contracts and test them in the Ganache testing environment (a personal blockchain for Ethereum development) as well as Azure development operations (DevOps) for private and public blockchains.

Through the integration with Microsoft, developers are aiming for a more streamlined workflow and testing environments. On top of that, they will not only be able to manage and monitor blockchain applications, but they can detect anomalies and analyze smart contracts in real time.

According to Wesley McVay, vice president of strategic partnerships at Truffle, the company “is in a unique position to guide the enterprises that will ultimately drive enterprise clients and consumers towards the adoption of the decentralized systems of tomorrow.”

The partnership between Truffle and Microsoft comes at a time when fellow cloud giant Amazon Web Services (AWS) has dipped its toes into the decentralized ecosystem with blockchain platform Komodo. However, AWS is reportedly releasing its own managed blockchain later this year.