Here is a transcript of the AMA for anyone who missed it and does not feel like scrolling through the slack.
Background reading: https://www.thenbs.com/knowledge/bim-levels-explainedQuestions:
Question 1: “Infrastructure is a huge market, did the business clients at the meeting receive the concept well?”
Answer 1: “It was very well received. We have some next steps and follow-up sessions. Just to clarify we had about 30 people attending, about 40% were App developers.
Question 2: “Infrastructure is a huge industry, how can Helium tap into this market?”
Answer 2: “What you have now is a focus on getting everything built digitally. There are many reasons for this, but during the design creation and planning stages, data has to move from one team to another, it also has to move to the factories that build things and the factories send materials to construction sites where things get built. These people all have apps that they use, but they don’t talk to each other.
We will be providing the connective tissue to link all the data together between all the different people in the supply chain.”
Question 3: “Why does BIM (Building Information Modeling) level 3 (see background reading) require blockchain tech vs. more centralized repositories?”
Answer 3: “Level 3 BIM is actually being build around Internet of Things. It’s built the assets and their components communicating back to places where information can be measured and acted upon. If level 3 BIM is a central repository of data, you have many different people that need access, but there are going to be security issues with giving everyone access to everything. Do we really want our Nuclear facilities to have digital designs stored in the Cloud and just give everyone access? We can secure level 3 BIM data with hashed hyperlinks, if you need access you will be given access to just the data you need.”
Question 4: “Will HLM serve as the connective tissue for data transfer or for financial transactions? Or both?”
Answer 4: “Blockchains keep data sync’d across all the different parties that need information about built assets, that is the starting point. It just so happens that the security features of blockchains mean you can create security around access to that data. So everyone knows the latest data they should be using (ledgers and time stamping) and only if you have authorization to see a piece of data will you get access.
In terms of transactions, we have recently added a new feature to our roadmap. Everything that gets built has some sort of insurance contract, service contract, warranty, guarantee. We are going to offer those simple contracts through our token. Our actual business model is based on the white paper, secure blockchain hosting for a fee. However, during our early evaluation stages, we figured that enterprises would be willing to pay more for blockchain hosting. So what we are doing is helping a whole industry use blockchains, where we will influence how that blockchain is developed. This means we get to be part of the deployment process. Our Service Node operators will be in a prime position to offer good hosting solutions to a sector that is in the process of going digital. Our native token will be in a prime position to offer smart contracts for simple things like the warranty on an elevator.”
Service Nodes:Service Node Strategy: “We have decided to work on two aspects of our Service Node strategy, the network side to implement Service Nodes and secondly, we are helping out with the development of the use cases. We will be joining the Hyperledger project to start with, as this blockchain is built around enterprise and we may then look to replicate much of that work (the features) into Ethereum, if customers want to have that choice. As part of the work on Hyperledger, we will be joining the Linux Foundation so we can get access to various people that are part of that blockchain initiative.
Question 5: “Are we going to operate the service nodes or is it outsourced for the companies?”
Answer 5: “Service Nodes is our offer to the world, so you will be operating the blockchains for all the people in the supply chain who want to outsouce that function. We will likely have two tiers of service node operators, ones that deal with the masses in the supply chain and ones that will need to go through additional security clearances to be allowed within the secure networks of some of the big infrastructure projects. Obviously, the costs go up the tier scale. We also covered the security model, but there could be additional burdens of getting a hosting platform pen tested and certified.
Question 6: “Does the HLM team have an idea of the profitability Service Nodes might bring, compared to Masternodes?”
Answer 6: “Service Nodes are an ‘Uber’ model, you can charge what you like. As we will be creating a use case around blockchains and we’ll do what we can to own that space, you will have little competition other than other service node operators. Those that want to run Blockchains in-house will always want that option, but I think you will be able to charge a premium of around $50-$90 a month per blockchain node.”
Question 7: “How much investment is needed per node?”
Answer 7: “Your cost is hosting, which is going to be around $10-$20 a month per blockchain. Part of your income will go back to the Helium network to pay for the infrastructure we are creating. That is our partnership to support you. We have not fixed any collateral yet.”
Smart Contracts: Elevator example: “Let us continue with the elevator example. We could have boilers, lighting, fire systems, air con, building management systems, etc. When an elevator is designed, there will be a virtual version of that stored in a 3d CAD model. A manufacturer will be given a contract to supply that, that is not the smart contract, that is an ordinary contract with terms and conditions. When the elevator leaves the factory, it will be scanned and information about logistics will then go into the blockchain. The elevator can be tracked through it’s journey to the location where it will be installed and when it reaches a compound, it will go through delivery acceptance, that is the blockchain now knows and tells everyone that the elevator is on site or at a local compound. That is our first smart contract; taking delivery requires that elevator to now be insured. That is a temporary insurance contract and scanning of the acceptance is the start of the contract. Now the elevator gets moved to it’s final position, once installed it is still under the smart insurance contract, once the project is finished the smart insurance contract finished and the building owners insurance takes over.
This can trigger the start of a new smart contract, the issue of a guarantee and a service period (the service contract is too complex to be a smart contract). We are not replacing people or contracts, just making them easier to administer. This is why we will be working with the Hyperledger blockchain on this specific use case. Also we are not going to limit ourselves to just this (construction) sector. Oil and Gas have a similar model for use, as does Mining. What we discovered during our research is that for decades the construction industry has wanted to be more like the process manufacturing sector, i.e. production lines. But it is really difficult to do that when each construction or infrastructure project is a unique location. It turns out that the process manufacturing sector wants to introduce blockchains into their processes, but once you have built a factory you have to wait for a production cycle to finish which makes it hard to introduce blockchains. This could actually mean that we start in a sector that has no legacy tools and then in 5 to 10 years time we will find ourselves moving into process manufacturing and logistics for things like car parts.”
Helium’s Future:“Our next steps are to engage with some App developers that nearly 60% of the infrastructure market. I won’t tell you who they are, because once we start working with them, we will securing that channel for a while. So it is in your interests that we don’t tell you who these App developers are, but there are 5 Apps. I can tell you that one of the firms we will be working with is a SAP certified business, which means whatever we create, SAP will eventually provide 3rd party support for it. The next steps on scoping out the Hyperledger use case will commence in 3 weeks wit ha white board, several App developers from different big businesses and from there they will form something called (for now) the Helium Alliance. The job of this alliance is to set data standards for moving data around the blockchains and from there we can go and create stuff that should work together.”
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