I don't own any Unibright tokens nor will I participate in the ICO.
Unibright's Framework can be utilised for various business processes. The product can be used within a wide array of industries such as requesting quotations for logistics, product information, tracking resources during production processes, and many more.
70% of the total number of tokens will be offered for sale to investors, and the hard cap of $15M. is very decent.
The core team have been working on implementing business solutions together for over 25 years. They have the expertise and chemistry among each other to make their vision and plans a reality.
What is Unibright?
Unibright positions itself as a ‘unified framework for blockchain based business integration’.
Blockchain has huge potential for enterprise application, but one of the main challenges is integration with existing business systems and processes. In other words, for blockchain to gain widespread adoption within large organisations in needs to fit with the technology they’re already using.
To that end, Unibright has developed an independent framework that makes it easier for businesses to adopt blockchain technology. It offers blockchain-agnostic templates that companies can adopt for specific use cases such as supply chain management and IoT, without requiring specialised in-house blockchain development expertise.
USERS
What problem are they solving?
Unibright has identified four specific problems with enterprise blockchain adoption:
1. It’s difficult to find skilled engineers that can develop blockchain applications
2. It’s difficult to apply smart contracts to different blockchains
3. It’s difficult to turn blockchain data into something that employees and customers can actually use
4. It’s difficult to integrate to integrate blockchain technology into existing IT/Enterprise Resource Management systems
To address these problems, they have developed four solutions which can simply be describes as smart templates, smart contracts, smart queries and smart adaptors. Each solution has its own purpose-built interface, making it simple for the user to apply to their required purpose.
Are user profiles clearly identified?
Their solutions are targeted at enterprise IT and project delivery teams. More specifically, the FAQ document identifies ‘business process specialists’ as its main user group.
Are platform use cases clearly understandable?
Their solutions are designed to address nine distinct use cases:
· Multi-party approval, i.e. coordinating across departments
· Batch tracing, i.e. supply chain traceability
· Asset lifecycle, i.e. record of repairs and maintenance
· Request for quotation, i.e. procurement of services
· Shipping process management, i.e. supply chain
· Invoice releasing, i.e. accounts payable and customer support
· New hire, i.e. HR support
· Insurance claim processing, i.e. checking the validity of claims
· Milestone based project payment, i.e. triggering contractor payments.
Each of these user cases are areas where blockchain could have a significant impact in increasing efficiency and produce ongoing cost savings. The website also notes that they have further use cases ‘in the pipeline’.
MARKET AND COMPETITORS
Do they operate in a market with clear growth potential?
Massive. Enterprises are still getting to grips with the concept of blockchains and the benefits distributed ledger technology (DLT) could bring to different aspects of their business. According to IDC[1], global spending on blockchain solutions will hit $2.1 billion in 2018 — still a paltry sum considering that the combined market cap of the top three public blockchains (Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple) is more than $225 billion. The analyst firm commented that “the year 2018 will be a crucial stage for enterprises as they make a huge leap from proof-of-concept projects to full blockchain deployments.” This being the case, then enterprise blockchain will no doubt grow significantly over the coming years. Indeed, Deloitte[2] predicts in its Tech Trends 2018 that “distributed ledger technology’s business value-add will grow to $176 billion by 2025, and…blockchain technology is on a clear path toward broad adoption, with use cases of increasing scope, scale and complexity.”
Do they hold competitive advantage over others in the space?
In an increasingly competitive market, Unibright appears to be operating in a relatively blue ocean. Its FAQ identifies Microsoft’s COCO framework as a potential ‘competitor’, however notes that as a Microsoft partner they will potentially benefit from the framework. Furthermore, in their interview with CoinCrunch the founders discussed the fact that they are uniquely positioned to integrate with cloud providers such as MS, SAP and Oracle to generate new business opportunities for both partners.
Within the crypto world, while they’re not the only crypto going after the enterprise space — projects like Stratis, Factom and Tierion all have solutions oriented towards enterprise — they don’t appear to have any direct competitors addressing the enterprise integration issue. SophiaTX (rank 151 on Coinmarketcap) is mentioned in one document, however Unibright distinguishes the two projects, stating that SophiaTX is about blockchain infrastructure, while Unibright is focused on integration with existing systems.
In any case, what gives Unibright a potential edge is the experience they have in the market and their existing partnerships and customers. We’ll get to all that in a moment.
TECHNICAL REALISATION
Is the technical aspect detailed in the whitepaper?
Very much so. The whitepaper goes into great detail about the company’s software architecture, including the Unibright Contract Interface (UCI) which ‘defines the main structure, state variables, mappings and methods which every generated Smart Contract automatically implements, thus marking a smart contract Unibright conformant.’ By my understanding, this means that they can connect different blockchains and systems. So, for example, if an enterprise was already using SAP Cloud ERP to manage processes and wanted to integrate with, say, the Ethereum blockchain, they could easily integrate without having to get a Solidity expert in to create a custom application.
The whitepaper is also supported by a technical paper that takes the reader through the different components of Unibright’s framework, namely its Workflow Designer, Contract Lifecycle Manager, Connector and Explorer applications (linked to the concept of smart templates, smart contracts, smart queries and smart adaptors mentioned previously).
Is the platform code available on GitHub? Is it open source?
I couldn’t find anything on GitHub and it appears not to be open source. I did find a reference in one document:
Having audited well tested code is vital in the field of (business) software development. Especially when it comes to SmartContract code. Therefore, we are more than happy to have a dedicated test specialist in our team and will establish a dedicated testing strategy from the very beginning. We are looking forward to having our templates tested by other companies as well.
Elsewhere they mention, in regard to their relationship with SPO, that:
[Working with SPO allows Unibright] to build our solution upon our already existing integration platform connecting ERP- and legacy systems in the banking and production field. The existing code base is 100% licensed to Unibright without additional costs.
Proven technologies or own development?
Own development, built on 20+ years’ experience in enterprise integration. Their parent company has been a SAP solution provider since 1989, before branching into cloud integration in 2011 and then blockchain technology in 2016.
Relevant readiness degree of the project?
Unibright’s parent company SPO Consulting has been operating a cloud integration platform since 2011 and works with some big-name companies such as Lufthansa, Samsung and Siemens. SPO’s existing network will no doubt prove invaluable for Unibright adoption once their applications are fully operational.
Realistic MVP delivery timeframe?
According to the whitepaper:
Regarding the implementation, we have to harden our technology to guarantee the top quality level we want to offer. Besides improving our existing components, we will create new templates for use cases we identify in different industries. In the medium term we aim to support other blockchain technologies besides Ethereum, like Stratis, NEO, Hyperledger Fabric, or whatever will arise in this vibrant technological environment.
Put simply, the technology is already there in prototype stage (connecting SAP and Ethereum) and will be enhanced as a result of the ICO funding.
The FAQ expands on this. Following April’s crowdsale, they will commence their ‘Implementation’ phase in Q2 2018, followed by the roll-out in Q3 2019. The product will be fully operational by 2020.
INTERNAL ECONOMY AND TOKENS
Unique value of token?
Those investing in the Unibright token sale will receive UBT tokens, which serve the purpose of empowering the Unibright Framework. It does this in two ways:
1. It’s the only payment option for registering Unibright smart contracts — a necessary component for utilising the Unibright framework.
2. It’s also the only payment for additional Unibright services, such as using smart adaptors.
The tokens are therefore essential for accessing Unibright services.
COMPANY AND TEAM
Entity and owners behind the project are known?
Part of Unibright’s appeal is that it’s an initiative of an existing company with a strong track record and an impressive list of enterprise customers. Having a strong enterprise network already in place gives Unibright a huge advantage in being able to showcase its services.
Background and composition of the founders and team are well-known?
The two founders have impressive résumés. Their CEO, Martin Jung is the head of blockchain development. He’s been in the industry more than 20 years with expertise in software development and business modelling. Stefan Schmidt, the CTOS, heads up software architecture and has a strong background in designing and creating integrated business applications.
They’ve also been friends since they were children, which is nice.
Team is reputable/credible?
Martin and Stefan are supported by an experienced team that includes lead frontend engineer Ingo Sterzinger, lead data modelling engineer Dr. Thomas Schmidt and lead testing engineer Fabian Schlarb. While other team members are included on the website, they also mention that a major part of raised funds (50%) will be used for development, which also means extending the team. They also note that their go-to-market partners will contribute to the project by consulting and setting up projects.
ADVISORS AND PARTNERS
Names, experience and reputation of advisors?
Unibright has assembled an advisory team with broad industry experience, comprising experts from enterprise, blockchain development, computer science and business development.
All advisors have Unibright listed in their LinkedIn profiles, and appear to have hands-on involvement in the project.
Essence of partnerships?
Unibright has a number of partnerships that will aid its development, including:
· SPO Consulting; Unibright is spun-off from SPO, and Marten and Stefan are part of the SPO leadership team.
· Zühlke engineering; consulting partner, joint go-to-market
· Microsoft Partner; technical partnership and potential joint go-to-market on the Microsoft Azure platform
· Ambisafe Financial; managing the token sale. Ambisafe ‘has a track record of more than 15 successfully managed token sales with more than 55000 participants’.
Their FAQ also mentions: ‘We strive to announce some great partnerships soon.’
ICO DETAILS
Tokens being generated?
150,000,000 UBT
To be sold in public token sale?
100.5 Million tokens (unsold tokens will be burned)
ICO soft cap?
$2,200,000
Hard cap?
$13,542,375
ICO token price
1 UBT = 0.14 USD
Bonuses?
First quarter of tokens: 10%
Second quarter of tokens: 5%
Token retrieval time and exchange access time?
Immediately following the crowdsale UBT will be listed on orderbook.io (a decentralised exchange), with listings on more established exchanges possible.
Contract address and code?
https://etherscan.io/address/0x039c9714AA51aa0bA3dE50Dc9Bb860652a51888AEMITTED TOKEN DISTRIBUTION
Token share (ICO investors vs founders/company/team)
The token distribution is as follows:
· 67% ICO
· 9% early purchasers
· 6% team
· 12% reserve
· 6% legal & token sale expenses
Vesting periods?
I couldn’t find a set vesting schedule, however according to the whitepaper:
The Unibright conformant smart contract continuously checks defined milestone conditions for payments that should be made. This enables all parties involved in a project to agree upon a payment plan based on terms that are executed reliably by the Unibright conformant smart contract.
USAGE OF COLLECTED FUNDING
Target spending
Token sale proceeds distribution is defined as following:
• (At least) 50% for platform development
• (Up to) 20% Template Generation for Business Use-Cases
• 15% for PR and marketing
• 15% setting up partnerships in industry, bootstrapping pilot customers
OVERALL THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENT
I like this project a lot and see real potential. The experience the founders and core team already have in this space will be crucial, as will leveraging SPO’s existing relationships. For anyone thinking about getting involved, I recommend watching the CoinCrunch interview. Marten and Stefan’s combination of ambition and humility will lend a great deal of encouragement that the project is in good hands.
