Corda 4.8 Beta — our spring release

Our first Corda release for 2021, Corda and Corda Enterprise 4.8, is due in April with improvements that continue to enhance the maturity of the platform as a whole.

As we are finishing off the release, you can now get your hands on these new features with the beta. Please contact our support team for access at [email protected].

This quarter our focus has been on two areas:

• Enhancements to the notary service
• Broader support for dependent components

Enhancements to the notary service

Throughout the lifecycle of the Corda 4 series, we have taken great strides to ensure the notary is an enterprise-grade service. In this release, we’ve gone further with the inclusion of the following:

• New metrics to monitor performance
• Improvements to the accuracy delivered by our metrics

First, we added the ability to report on the entire length of the notarization flow. With this, users can now measure the elapsed time between the notary request and response. This new notary information can be broken down to provide critical insights, such as how long a request has spent on the queue.

In Corda Enterprise 4.8, we are changing how we sample data to eliminate the presentation of stale information. As a result, duration-based metrics can capture all data points over a specified time window instead of selecting a fixed size sample that may miss outliers — benefiting node metrics as well.

Broader support for dependent components

In addition to the notary service enhancements, we have included a selection of improvements that reinforce the maturity and longevity of Corda Enterprise 4.8 by expanding its compatibility with underlying and adjacent systems.

• Oracle DB support — We have extended the supported versions of Oracle Database to include the most recent Long Term Supported version — 19c — as the support window for the 18c (AKA 12cR2) will end in June 2021. Oracle Database 19c has a significantly longer shelf life (April 30, 2024 with no ES/ULA and April 30, 2027 with ES/ULA).
• Confidential identity key on HSMs — Our goal has been to complete the range of key types that our supported HSMs can handle. Currently, all key types are supported (e.g. Node CA, Legal Identity, etc.) except for ones required for confidential identities. The challenge has been that each HSM provider may require a different way to approach confidential identities. In Corda Enterprise 4.8 we are adding Gemalto and Utimaco to our list of supported confidential identities. For the full list of supported confidential identities visit the Corda docs website.
• Shifting Corda identity interfaces to a simpler option — Previously users were required to manage the certificate lifecycle needed to authenticate with the Azure Key Vault. In Corda 4.8, users can authenticate with the Azure Key Vault using Azure Managed Identities — making identity management simpler as it eliminates the need to manage credentials/certificates.

We’re hard at work on the evolution of Corda, with our managed services offering and many more exciting features, accelerators, and capabilities coming your way in the coming months.

As always, we’re excited and keen to hear your feedback. Feel free to reach out to us via email at [email protected]. Your input is important to us.