Blockchain: The Hidden Gem of Data Networking: BLAN

This is the first volume of the ‘Blockchain: The Hidden Gem of Data Networking’ series of eBooks.
In this series, we will thoroughly define blockchain and see it in action; we’ll see how ‘blockchain’ could be leveraged to enhance the technologies that exist in the Data Networking: i.e. LAN and WAN technologies.
In this first volume with subtitle ‘BLAN’ (short for Blockchain-VXLAN); we’ll see how we could leverage blockchain to create an architecture that connects geographically dispersed layer-2 islands over any available infrastructure (even the global public Internet).
Connecting layer-2 islands is not a new approach, we’ve seen many successful solutions that fall under the ‘Overlay Networking Technologies’ umbrella like: VXLAN, NVGRE…In this volume, we’ll see ‘BLAN’ that is the result of the integration of blockchain with VXLAN.
VXLAN was originally drafted as an overlay networking technology that can work without a control-plane and its scope is usually within a single administrative domain i.e. Data Center or Cloud.
BLAN can greatly enhance the operation of the ‘VXLAN’ technology by adding a control-plane component to it, and it can also extend VXLAN working domain beyond the boundary of a local Data Center (or even a public cloud).
BLAN operation across the public Internet makes it more appealing as a viable WAN option for many customers (SME, large enterprises, service providers, Telcos…) in front of conventional WAN options (like: Dedicated links, MPLS or VPN across the Internet) or modern options (like: SD-WAN).