![images.jpeg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmW4DpkBWGUceL5tbew8XTce58J71Mx63FGMpuDtnqE4Fw/images.jpeg)

It's no surprise that interest in blockchain is rapidly heating up, as companies scout out new uses for the distributed ledger technology that powers Bitcoin.

A number of IT vendors are already testing it in their products -- in some cases, as a reaction to customer inquiries about how it can be used in enterprise security, data storage and for file-sharing.

It's even being used to run an energy microgrid in Brooklyn, where Park Slope residents are now able to sell power generated from rooftop solar panels via a microgrid enabled by blockchain. (The blockchain ledger records every transaction made with a local utility.)

So what is it, exactly, and how can it be useful in business?

In short, blockchain is a public electronic ledger -- similar to a relational database -- that can be openly shared among disparate users and that creates an unchangeable record of their transactions; each one is time-stamped and linked to the previous one.

http://www.computerworld.com/resources/137785/database-management/blockchain-breaks-out-in-the-enterprise