Merge "why Fabric"

docs/whyfabric.md

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+# Why Fabric?
+
+Hyperledger Fabric (hereafter referred to as Fabric) is a blockchain platform
+designed to allow the exchange of an asset or the state of an asset to be consented
+upon, maintained, and viewed by all parties in a permissioned group.  A key characteristic
+of Fabric is that the asset is defined digitally, with all participants simply agreeing
+on its representation/characterization.  As such, Fabric can support a broad range of
+asset types; ranging from the tangible (real estate & hardware) to the intangible
+(contracts and IP).
+
+The technology is based on a standard blockchain concept -  a shared, replicated ledger.
+However, Fabric is based on a permissioned network, meaning all participants are
+required to be authenticated in order to participate and transact on
+the blockchain.  Moreover, these identities can be used to govern certain levels of
+access control (e.g. this user can read the ledger, but cannot exchange or transfer assets).  This
+dependence on identity is a great advantage in that varying consensus algorithms (e.g.
+BFT based or Kafka) can be implemented in place of the more compute-intensive Proof-of-Work and
+Proof-of-Stake varieties.  As a result, permissioned networks tend to provide higher
+throughput and performance.
+
+Once an organization is granted access to the blockchain network, it then has the ability
+to create and maintain a private channel with other specified members. For example,
+let's assume there are four organizations trading jewels.  They may decide to use
+Fabric because they trust each other, but not to an unconditional extent. They can
+all agree on the business logic for trading the jewels, and can all maintain a global
+ledger to view the current state of their jewel market (call this the consortium channel).
+Additionally, two or more of these organizations might decide to form an alternate
+private blockchain for a certain exchange that they want to keep confidential
+(e.g. price X for quantity Y of asset Z).  They can perform this trade without affecting
+their broader consortium channel, or, if desired, this private channel can broadcast some
+level of reference data to their consortium channel.
+
+This is powerful! This provides for great flexibility and potent capabilities, along with
+the interoperability of multiple blockchain ledgers within one consortium. This is the
+first of its kind and allows organizations to curate Fabric to support the myriad use
+cases for different businesses and industries.  Hyperledger Fabric has already been
+successfully implemented in the banking, finance, and retail industries.
+
+We welcome you to the Hyperledger Fabric community and are glad to hear your architectural
+and business needs, and help determine how Fabric can be leveraged to support your use case.